A FEW Things Change
by adoreleo
Summary: Leo is still COS, but is no longer the President's right hand man. He tries to decide what to do about that and some other things that are happening in his life.
1. Part 1

Title: A FEW Things Change (1/10)

By: adoreleo

Rating: Overall Rating for this story is a strong PG13 - Contains some language, sexual innuendo and situations.

Characters: Leo, Margaret, Abbey, and Josh

Spoilers: Anything up to and including Memorial Day and some spoilers from season six.

Disclaimer: The characters are from the NBC, WB, TV show The West Wing; they don't belong to me.

Beta, Brainstorming & Additional Ideas By: Lynn, who always goes above and beyond the call. THANKS!!!!

Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated.

Author's Notes: This story idea came to me while I was attending 2004 FEW (Federally Employed Women) Conference in Nashville, TN this past July. I got to thinking about what would happen to Margaret if she came to this event, and then I developed the story from there. A couple of things that happen to Margaret actually happened to me. They seemed so Margaret like that I had to include them. The term TDY is the government slang for business trip it means Temporary Duty. Orders are the paper work that permits you to be gone from your normal duty station and Government Per Diem is the total amount of money that you are allotted for hotel and food per day.

* * *

Part 1 

Leo is on his way back to his office when his hip catches, almost causing him to fall. He quickly looks around, making sure that no one saw what just happened. He leans one hand against the wall, taking a couple of seconds to gather himself as he finally realizes he can't put it off any longer. He looks around hallway, making sure that no one, especially Margaret, is nowhere in sight and then he steps into the alcove, pulling his cell phone from his pocket.

"Dr. Franklin's office, how can I help you?" A young sounding voice says on the other end of the phone.

"Hi, this is Leo McGarry and I need to make an appointment with the doctor."

"Okay. Have you seen Dr. Franklin before?"

"Yes, but it's been awhile."

"Is it an emergency?"

"Nah, not really. It's more of a chronic problem that's been bothering me more lately."

"Okay, let me see what he's got available," she says, as she searches for an open appointment slot on her computer. "Okay, the first available appointment he has is almost two weeks away, Monday, July 18 at three o'clock. Is that okay, Mr. McGarry?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine," he says, and then quickly realizes that Margaret will be gone that week. He breathes a sigh of relief, because now he won't have to worry about lying to her.

"Is your phone number still 555-9890?"

"No. Let me give you my cell phone number, it's the best way to reach me. It's 555-2312"

"Okay, we'll see you then."

"Thank you," Leo says, as he flips his cell phone shut and steps out of the alcove.

Leo slowly walks the rest of the way back to his office and sets the stack of files he's been carrying down on his desk. He heads over to the half open door that leads to Margaret's area. He's about to open it the rest of the way and ask for his messages, but he stops when he hears Margaret speaking softly to someone on the phone.

"Lynette, I just don't feel like going to FEW this year. No, I don't think I'll change my mind. Not since... well I don't want to go without Donna and well... things have been... sorta strained around here lately and," Margaret quickly looks around, making sure no one is within ear shot and whispers, "I really don't think I should leave Leo right now."

Leo stiffens when he hears her comment about him. He thought he'd been doing a better job of hiding his problems with the President, but then again, this is Margaret, she has always had the propensity of knowing what's going on with him. After all, she was the first one to recognize that there was something terrible wrong, when Jenny left him.

Actually, he's surprised that she hasn't said anything to him about what's been going on between him and the President. There have been plenty of looks thrown his way and 'almost comments', but she hasn't approached the subject yet. Leo sighs and slowly turns away from the door, walks over to his desk, and then sits down. He picks up a briefing book and tries to read it, but his mind strays.

_

* * *

_

_Flashback Oct 1999_

"Margaret," he bellows, as he rummages around his desk.

"Yes, Leo," she tersely answers as she comes running. He's been yelling at her, not for her, for three days now. He's been out of sorts ever since he forgot his wedding anniversary, which she knows for a fact that he more than made for, because she made all the arrangements. She's sure that Jenny loved the very expensive necklace he bought her and the fancy meal. So she's not sure what his problem is.

"What the hell did you do with that briefing on the budget numbers?" He growls, as he continues to search through the stack of files on his desk. "I can't find a damn thing anymore in this office."

"Leo, I'm still working on the latest revisions that you gave me not more than ten minutes ago," she heatedly huffs back at him. He's really starting to be pain in the ass to work for lately. She hasn't been this pissed at him since his drinking days when he was Labor Secretary, and he used to sometimes show up at her door, drunk and needing a place to stay.

"Well then get back out there and finish them," he yells, pointing towards the door. "I still need to look them over before I go to the meeting."

"Leo, you've revised the briefing four times already, soon it's going to look exactly like it did when you first started," she sarcastically points out. "I know for a fact that some of the things I changed for the first revision are now back in this current version."

"Damnit Jenny, stop nagging me," he says in a rush.

Margaret stops dead in her tracks and stares at Leo. She can't believe he just said that. Confusion and hurt quickly wash across her face. "What the hell did you just say?" She asks with her arms crossed in anger.

A shocked Leo stares back at her for a few seconds until finally it dawns on him what he's just done. He slumps against the desk as his head drops, "I'm sorry Margaret," he mumbles in a voice barely above a whisper.

Margaret's dumbfounded. She watches him for a few seconds trying to figure out whether she should leave or not. She finally moves towards the door, closes it and walks back over to Leo. She puts a hand on his arm, "Leo, what's wrong?" She asks, in a voice full of care and concern.

Leo moves over to the couch and sits down. Margaret follows and sits down next to him. He sits there quietly for a couple of minutes, with his head in his hands. Finally, he raises his head and looks at Margaret, "Jenny left me... she's... asking me for a divorce," he says in a raspy voice, full of emotion.

"Oh Leo, I'm so sorry," she says as she places a hand on his leg.

"Yeah, me too," he says softly to himself, as he covers her hand with his.

_End of Flashback_

* * *

Margaret hangs up the phone, grabs a file off her desk and walks into Leo's office, "Oh, you're back," she says, as she strides over to the filing cabinet against the wall and files away the folder that's in her hand.

"Yeah," he quietly says, not looking up from the briefing book that he's been pretending to read for the past few minutes, while he's been thinking about recent events.

"I'll get your messages," she bobs her head, quickly turns and starts to leave his low lit office.

"Margaret, umm... wait a minute," he breathes a heavy sigh, closing the briefing book and tossing it on his desk.

"What is it, Leo?" She asks, slight concern showing in her voice and on her face. She knows that something is bothering him. Well she knows that there's a rift between him and the President, but this is something different she suspects. She could tell by the uncomfortable tone of his voice.

Leo nervously clears his throat. "Sit please," he motions to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

Margaret walks over to the chair, eases herself into it, tugs her skirt down, folds her hands in her lap and then stares intently back at him.

"Margaret, I just wanted to check with ya and see if you got a temp for when you are at that federal woman's thing in two weeks." He tries to act indifferent about her upcoming trip.

Margaret glares back at him. 'Since when has he worried about if I've arranged for a temp for him', she reflects to herself. "Well... I've been meaning to speak with umm... you about that," she cautiously admits, smoothing some imaginary wrinkles on her skirt.

"What about it?" Leo responds trying to sound unaware. He doesn't want her to know that he overheard her phone conversation. He feels guilty that he stood there and listened in on her conversation for as long as he did.

"I umm... don't think I want to go this year," Margaret explains looking down at her hands that are now fidgeting in her lap. She's never been able to look Leo in the eye when she's trying to mislead him.

"Why not? You've been going to that conference for years. You've always looked forward to going in the past and always seem to have a wonderful time," he reasons, maybe a little too forcefully, arching his brow. He really thought that he was home free with his doctor's appointment. He knows there's no way that he'll be able to hide it from her, if she's still here.

"Leo, you've always been great about letting me go all these years, but it's... well I just thought that maybe... it was time to let one of the new people go... like Rena," she hesitantly suggests.

"I thought you'd love to get a chance to get away from me for a whole week," he smirks, with his best impish grin.

Margaret stares back at Leo as it dawns on her, he must have overheard her talking on the phone with Lynette. She quickly recovers, "That's not the only reason why I go, although I do have to admit that it is a fringe benefit," she sweetly smiles, trying not to make a big deal out of not going this year. He needs her more than ever this year and she just doesn't want to leave him. She suspects that there is more going on with him than just the situation with the President.

"Ah... yeah," Leo says with a slow deep intonation. "Look... I heard you on the phone," he motions towards her office. "You shouldn't be thinking about not going just because of Donna. She's going to be fine, and she won't like it if she finds out that you didn't go cause of her."

"Well, I don't plan on telling her," giving him her best squinty eyed look. "And you better not be thinking about calling her, either." She informs him, as she folds her arms over her chest.

"I won't call her, but ya know what a big mouth Josh has. He'll be on the phone with her within minutes of finding out," he insinuates.

"How's he going to find out?" She wonders aloud.

"I'll tell him," Leo smirks, with a lopsided grin.

"Leo!" She says in an exasperated voice.

"Margaret, isn't the conference in Nashville this year?" Leo watches Margaret bob her head. "And isn't one of those country singers going to be there that you really like?" He looks at the surprised expression on Margaret's face and gives her a grin.

"How did you know that it's going to be in Nashville this year and that Sarah Evans was going to be there?" Margaret asks, trying to keep her bewilderment from showing on her face. She realizes she has been unsuccessful, by the knowing grin that is now spread across Leo's face.

"Margaret, you and Donna have been yakking about this for months, ever since you two got back from last year's FEW Conference in Chicago. Which... by the way, I might add is a lot more interesting and exciting place to visit than Nashville, Tennessee," he informs her, wishing that he could show her the sights and sounds of the real Chicago someday.

"You're only saying that... because you're a 'Man of Chicago'," she lightly smirks, as she notices that she's getting a playful grin and a nod of the head from her boss for her Chicago comment. "I bet the voters in Tennessee wouldn't agree with you," she advises him.

Margaret tries to keep the growing smile off her face. She's astounded that Leo remembers the name of the conference and where it was held last year. How the hell did this man ever forget something as important as his own wedding anniversary? Margaret slightly blushes at the implications of him remembering something trivial about her might mean. Does it indicate he cares about her? She'd give anything if only that were true.

"Margaret, is Donna the only reason you don't want to go?" He leans forward in his chair, rests his elbows on the edge of his desk and stares intently at her while waiting for her response.

Margaret shifts uncomfortably in her chair under Leo's scrutiny. She suddenly realizes that he must have heard the last part of her earlier phone conversation with Lynette, too. "It's... well, there's a lot going on here right now and I..." she nervously clears her throat. "And I don't think the timing is right and..."

"Margaret," Leo sighs, slowly shaking his head and leaning back in his chair. "You and I both know that's not true. I haven't exactly had a lot to do around here since... well let's just say that Josh has more on his plate right now and I don't see that changing in the near future."

Margaret looks down at her hands and then back up at Leo and slowly bobs her head in silent agreement.

"There's no reason why you can't go. As a matter of fact, I insist that you go," Leo presses her, getting up from his chair and moving around to the front of his desk, folding his arms and leaning against it.

"But..." she insists, crossing her arms, too.

"But, nothing," Leo interrupts her. "Margaret, It's gonna be fine. It'll all blow over soon," he says in a less than convincing voice than he had intended, as he motions towards the Oval Office.

"Leo," she returns, moving to the edge of her chair. She decides against standing up, because if she did then their faces would only be inches apart, and she's not sure that she can control herself right now. All she wants to do is take him in her arms, kiss him and tell him that it will all be okay.

"Look... do I need to order you to go?" He asks, as he unfolds his arms and points a finger towards her. He may not have the full power of his office anymore, but he's certain that he still has some control over what Margaret does.

"I don't think you can do that," she wisecracks as she scoots back in her chair, trying to lighten the moment.

"Margaret, you need to get away," Leo hesitates, trying a different more personal line of reasoning. She needs to stop taking care of him and start taking care of herself for once. "It's been... a long year," he rationalizes.

"It's been an even longer and more difficult year for you," she quickly points out a little harsher than she had intended, as she pops up out of her chair and is now just inches away from his face. She can almost feel the heat of his body and she can smell his expensive cologne that drives her crazy.

Leo raises an eyebrow at her last comment. Leo retreats from his spot, because his body is suddenly very aware of its proximity to Margaret. He sits down behind his desk to put some space between them and to hide the arousing predicament that he's starting to experience, "All the more reason for you to go and leave me alone for a week. It'll be like... a vacation for me too... and yet... I won't have to go anywhere," he retorts, forcing a grin on his face.

"You're not very funny," she smiles though flushed cheeks, as she takes her seat again.

"I am too," he genially smiles this time.

"Okay, I'll... go." She can't resist his smile. "I've really have been looking forward to going to and staying at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center. Did you know that hotel itself covers a little over nine acres, and that you'll be surrounded by breathtaking indoor gardens, winding pathways, and cascading waterfalls, under a magnificent glass atrium and it has a Mississippi-style flatboats ride inside of it?" She rattles off.

"Yes, I know I know. Gwad Margaret, have you memorized the brochure about it?" He reinstates, rising a hand towards her. "Remember, I'm the one you're been spewing off inane details to for the past twelve months, about it," he softly laughs.

"I've not been that bad," she argues, trying to look innocent.

"Margaret," he growls.

"Well, maybe," she softly laughs, as she gets up and heads for the door. "I'll get someone from the secretary pool to fill in for me. Any preferences?" She still can't help but feel guilty about leaving him. She knows he'll never admit it, but he needs her.

"Just make sure I don't get a tall lanky red head, who loves nothing better to do than to try to drive me crazy by trying to get me to eat all the time or telling me silly jokes," he laughs.

"Funny man," she quips, as she leaves his office.

"What'd ya say?" Leo asks, enjoying the banter between them. The truth be told, he's really not looking forward to Margaret being gone.

"Nothing," she laughs as she heads for her desk to get her Orders ready for her TDY to Nashville.

* * *

Two weeks later, Margaret arrives at the Nashville Metropolitan Airport early Sunday afternoon. She takes the free hotel shuttle, instead of a cab; cause there's no reason to waste the government's money on a cab. She arrives at the Gaylord Resort Hotel and Convention Center and is stunned by the enormity of it. She'd read about it and seen pictures of it on the Internet, but nothing can fully prepare you for the immense magnitude of it all.

"Hi, I'm Margaret McGuire here for the FEW Conference and I need to check in, please," she says, handing the young lady behind the counter her credit card and confirmation paperwork.

"Welcome to the Gaylord Resort Hotel and Convention Center, Ms. McGuire," she replies, while looking up her room assignment.

Margaret nods her head and then proceeds to look around the huge lobby; she is half-listening when the young lady tells her what room she's been assigned. "Umm... okay, thank-you."

"If there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to call us," she adds, with a warm southern smile.

Margaret walks away a little confused, she thought she heard the girl behind the counter say something about the President. 'How does she know that I work in the White House?' She thinks to herself as she walks away.

When Margaret gets in the elevator, she's surprised that she has to use her room key to get to her floor. She gets off the elevator and locates the direction of her room and heads for it. When she gets to her room she finds at double door, she's confused. She's never had a double door on a hotel room. She rechecks the number on her paperwork and verifies that it's the correct room. As she is inserting the key card, she notices a plaque next to her room. It says _Delta Presidential Suite_. So that's what the lady behind the desk was talking about, not that she worked for the President but that she was in a Presidential suite. She enters the room and immediately calls the front desk.

"Hello, Ms. McGuire, how may I help you," the friendly voice asks on the other end of the line says after only one ring.

"Ah," she stutters, surprised that they know who's calling. "I think there's been a mistake. I didn't reserve a suite. Someone's made a huge mistake, because my Government Per Diem won't cover this," she rattles off, in a panic.

"Let me check our records, can you hold please?" She says politely.

"Yes, I'll hold," Margaret agrees, biting her lip while she impatiently waits. What is she going to do? She can't afford to pay the difference, because a room like this must go for over well five hundred dollars a night, probably even more. That's more money for one night, than she allotted for a hotel for the whole week here.

Margaret wanders around the room, while she's on hold. There are several doors off the main sitting area, a full size bar against the wall and next to it a Baby Grand piano. Behind the first door she finds a full kitchenette, the next room she explores is a nice sized bedroom with two queen beds and a private bath.

She is heading for the last door, when a voice comes back on the phone, "Ms. McGuire, there's been no mistake. Your room was upgraded two weeks ago," she informs her.

"But, I didn't... I can't afford to pay..." Margaret tries to explain in a panic.

"Ms. McGuire, your room has already been paid for, in full, by a Leo McGarry," she informs her.

"Oh, okay. Thank-you," she breathes into the phone. She puts down the phone and stands there for a few seconds, with her hands on her hips. She's really going to let him have it for wasting his money on such an elaborate room.

Margaret digs her cell phone out of her purse and calls Leo's hotel. There's no answer, so she calls the office. After a couple of rings, that familiar gravelly voice answers, "Yeah, McGarry here."

"Leo, it's me," Margaret says, after entering the master bedroom and sitting down on the king sized bed.

"Hey, Margaret, what's up" Leo returns, grinning as to the reason for her call. He's been expecting it.

"Don't what's up me, Leo McGarry. You know perfectly well the reason behind this call," she retorts, as she exhales out an audible breath.

"Well... I'm gonna go out on a limb here, Margaret and guess that you're talking about your recent room upgrade at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center," he says in a mocking tone.

"Leo, what were you thinking? This room is enormous and far too big for one person. You spend way too much money," Margaret accuses, slightly annoyed with Leo for spending his money on her. She would have been just as happy in a normal room. This room is phenomenal, but she's not ready to admit that to him or even herself that she loves it.

"Margaret, when was the last time you had a vacation?" Leo questions, trying to picture the look on her face.

"Leo, this is not a vacation. This is a legitimate TDY," she defends, as she rolls her eyes.

"I know that," he sighs. "I just meant that... well... you might as well be pampered while you're there," he explains.

"Leo, what's gotten into you?" She raises an eyebrow. Leo doesn't normally surprise her with things like this.

"Nothing's gotten into me. I just wanted you... I mean you deserve some... oh hell Margaret would you just enjoy it, please," he pleads in a tired voice, as he sits down in his chair.

"Okay, thanks," she relents, noting the weariness of his voice. She gets up off the bed and heads for the window. She peers out, "Wow," she gasps, looking down upon the Delta area.

"What?" Leo rubs his forehead and adjusts the phone from one ear to the other. He's more worn-out than he thought, and his hip has been bothering him all day. He should have just stayed home today, instead of coming in here and staring at Margaret's empty desk. He's not been sleeping very well lately, hell he hasn't been sleeping very well since last June. He's only been getting about three to four hours of sleep each night.

"The view here is... unbelievable. Leo, this place is gigantic. I've never seen anything like it before." Margaret turns away from the window and heads for the bathroom. She's hasn't fully explored the suite yet.

"I'm happy for ya," he breathes out into the phone. It's great just hearing her voice, even better now that she's excited about the suite.

"Oh Leo, there's a sunken tub in here and I swear you could get four people in it." She exclaims. "Oh, I can't wait to get in there," she says without thinking, and blushes after she realizes she just said that to Leo. She's glad that he can't see how red her face has turned.

Leo snorts a little into the phone line. He quickly tries to get the image of a naked Margaret in a sunken tub, out of his head, cause it's having a definite effect on a particular part of his lower body. Lately, he hasn't needed any help in that regard when it comes to thinking about Margaret.

Leo first started having feelings for her sometime after the kidnapping. Margaret has always been supportive, but during the kidnapping something changed between them. Leo can't put his finger on the exact moment that his fondness for Margaret had turned to love, but it's true. He's in love with his tall lanky red headed assistant, and he's not sure what to do about it.

Sometimes, he suspects that Margaret feels the same way and he's almost said something a couple of times, but he's always chickened out at the last minute or some major problem has caused him to place his feelings on the back burner. But lately, he's had lots of free time to consider his feelings for her and he thinks that maybe he should say something to her about it.

"Leo, you still there?" Margaret asks, after the prolonged silence on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, sorry. I was umm... thinking." He admits, still trying to clear his mind of the image of a naked Margaret in a sunken tub.

"Leo, are you okay? You sound sorta... I don't know... different." Margaret walks out of the bathroom and sits back on her bed. She's worried about him. She really didn't want to go away, and now he sounds nervous, which is not like him. Something else, besides this thing with the President, is going on with Leo lately. If only she could figure out what it is.

"I'm fine, will you please stop worrying," he implores, leaning further back into his chair and rubbing his eyes.

"Like I could," she quickly smirks, as she raises an eyebrow at Leo's use of the word please. That's twice he's said it in this conversation. He normally just demands things of her and others. His politeness kicks her anxiety, about him, into high gear. She takes a deep breath and tries to calm herself. There's nothing she can do here, but when she gets back, Leo and she are going to sit down and have a long overdue talk.

"True... but try, will ya?" He rolls his eyes. Margaret's concern about him is legendry. He's not sure what he ever did to deserve her, but thank God he has her.

Margaret tries to distract herself by looking around the spacious hotel room. "Leo, this room is... I mean... I've never stayed in a room as nice as this. Thank-you so much, but you really shouldn't have," she smiles.

"You're welcome, and you deserve it, too." Leo's grin spreads across his face. He can almost imagine her sitting there in her lavish room. He knows that she will truly enjoy being pampered for a change, if she can just relax and accept this gift to her. She deserves it after all he's put her though these past fourteen years.

"Leo, you can be so sweet sometimes," she tells him, as she lies back onto the bed and stretches.

"Hey," Leo retorts with a slight laugh. "Don't say that too loud. I have a certain cantankerous image to maintain," he sarcastically says.

"Sorry," she giggles, bringing her hand to her mouth. "We wouldn't want the Republicans on the hill to find out. It would be the end to your career." That last comment was out of her mouth before she could stop it. 'Damnit,' she mutters under her breath.

"Well... it seems the end might be near anyway," he mumbles, scratching the spot behind his right ear that always bothers him when he's upset. "They might just get their wish yet."

"Leo, what's going on between you... and the President?" Margaret beseeches, as she sits up on the edge on the bed. She's heard some rumors about how the President has been treating him, and she knows that Leo hasn't been in down to the Situation Room since they got back from Camp David.

"Margaret," he growls. He's surprised it's taken her this long to ask him. "Not now. I... really don't," he pauses as he looks at his watch. "Hey, it's later than I had planned to stay here today. I really should get going cause I have some... things to do at home. Bye." He says, as he quickly hangs up the phone, not giving Margaret a chance to respond. He stands, grabs his bag and heads for his service car.

"Things to do at home," she mutters, staring at the cell phone in her hand. "You live in a damn hotel."

Margaret flips her cell phone shut, gets up off the bed and finishes her unpacking. She needs to do something to get her mind off Leo. She knows this is futile, because she hasn't been able to get her mind off him for years. She has always loved Leo, but for the past couple of years, she's been in love with him.

Margaret never allowed herself to feel this way before, while he was married and then after his divorce, she thought for the longest time that they would work things out and get back together. But, somewhere during the past couple of years, she wasn't able to keep her feelings in control and love crept into her heart. It's so true what they say, you can't fence time and you can't stop love.

Margaret wants to tell him, but it never seems like the timing is right, and she's pretty sure that he doesn't feel the same way. He still must be in love with his ex-wife, cause he still wears that ring. Margaret thought for sure that he would take it off when Jenny got remarried earlier this year, but no, it's still there. Margaret breathes a heavy sigh.

Margaret thinks back about their conversation. Leo sounded so different and what did he mean that the end of his career might be near. She thinks about the past few weeks, as she continues to unpack and organize her things. She's almost done, when the phone by her bed rings. She answers quickly it, hoping that it's Leo. But it's not. It's a friend she that she made at the FEW Conference in Chicago last year. They make arrangements to meet for an early breakfast.

* * *

On the ride home from the White House, Leo debates about taking tomorrow off, but he quickly decides against it. He's surprised that he misses Margaret already; she's only been gone for a day. Things have been changing between them for some time now. Recently, they've had a lot more time together and their conversations have turned decidedly more personal, especially since the President has shut him out. He wonders if Margaret has noticed the change, too.

When he gets into his hotel room, he decides to give Mallory a call, but she doesn't answer. He leaves a message asking her if she wants to go to dinner tonight. He goes to the small refrigerator in his hotel room, gets a bottle of water and then he logs on the Internet. He uses _Google _to find the URL for the hotel that Margaret is staying at. He tours the hotel via _QuickTime_ and is pleasantly surprised at all it has to offer. He smiles when he discovers the suites and sees a picture of the sunken tub that Margaret was referring to.

After a half an hour or so of browsing the hotel, Leo logs off. Within seconds his hotel room phone rings. "Yeah, McGarry here," he answers, hoping that it's Margaret.

"Hey, Daddy," Mallory stiffly replies to her hard to reach father.

"Hey, Baby," Leo responds, noting the tension in her voice.

"I've been trying to get a hold of you every since you left the message." She informs him. "I was coming in the door when the phone rang, and my arms were full of packages."

"Been shopping have ya?" Leo smirks into the phone.

"Never mind that. I called the office and its shut down. Are you okay?" She worriedly asks.

"I'm fine. I don't spend everyday in the West Wing," he comments, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Since when?" His daughter smirks, as she sits down on the couch.

"Mallory," he growls.

"Daddy, I even called your cell phone, but it's turned off. Are you trying to hide from someone?"

"It is? I must have tuned it off after I got off the phone with Margaret," he tries to sound surprised. He knows he turned it off when he left the White House, but he's not going to tell her that. He doesn't need her asking questions about why he did that. He's shielded her from the fact that he and the President are having issues right now. He's doesn't need to have her worrying about him too. It's bad enough that Margaret knows what little bit about it that she does.

"I've been calling ya for a while at the hotel, but I kept getting a busy signal. Can you still make dinner or does the President need you back at the White House?" She hopes that he can still make dinner. She hasn't seen him that much lately and when she talked with Margaret the other day, she got the feeling that something was wrong.

"No, he doesn't... need me..." 'Anymore,' Leo adds under his breath. He hopes that the pain he's been feeling, doesn't show in his voice. "I was on the internet." Leo changes the subject quickly.

"The internet? Daddy I thought you hated the Internet," she laughs, picturing him cussing at his computer when it doesn't do what he wants it to.

"Well, that just goes to show ya that you don't know everything," he banters back, with a smile.

"Right... so can you still meet me for dinner or did you make a hot date at some chat room," she teases. She wishes her father would start dating again. His first attempt, with Jordan, didn't work out well and now she's afraid that he's given up entirely. She knows he's lonely and it breaks her heart to see him like that.

Leo smiles, "No, I can still meet ya. I'll come pick you up at six," he suggests, as he thinks to himself that the only hot date he wants to make is with Margaret and she's in Nashville and probably not interested anyway.

"Great, I love being chauffeured. I'll be ready at six," Mallory says, wondering if her father will ever wake up and see what's right in front of him. She has suspected for a while that Margaret was in love with her father, but every time she's tried to talk to Margaret about it, she has sidestepped the issue.

"Yeah, right," he smirks, shaking his head. He knows that he'll still have to wait for her. 'What is it about women never being ready,' he thinks to himself, 'well every woman except Margaret, he's never known her to be late or not ready when she says she will be.'

"Daddy," Mallory whines. "I'll be ready, I promise."

"Okay, see ya at six fifteen," he can't help but tease his daughter so more.

"Daddy, you're a funny man," she laughs into the phone. "Bye."

"Bye, Baby," he says, as he hangs up the phone. Leo smiles at the term funny man. That's twice he's been called that today, something else that the Republicans would have a field day with.

TBC in Part 2

Feedback is greatly appreciated!


	2. Part 2

Part 2

See disclaimers in part 1.

Leo and Mallory arrive at the restaurant, in plenty of time for their reservation. Mallory is surprised at the choice that her father has made tonight. Usually it's some fancy four-star restaurant, but tonight it's a hole in the wall Italian place that is one of Margaret's favorite places to eat. Whenever Mallory and she get a chance to go out, they usually wind up here. It's not too far from the White House and is usually easy to get in and out of quickly, which comes in handy since Margaret is almost always chained to her father.

"Luigi's?"

"Yeah, I thought you loved this place," Leo opens the door and guides his daughter into the restaurant.

"Yes, I do, but" Mallory stops, deciding not to make a big deal out of it. She's just glad to get to spend some time with her father. It's been harder than ever to get him out of the office since her mother remarried this past winter.

"This is the place that Margaret chose for me to take her for Secretary's...I mean Administrator's Day a couple of months ago," he corrects himself before he gets a lecture from his daughter; Margaret has already let him have it a few times when he refers to it that way. His face softens at the memory of their meal here.

"It's her favorite place to eat," Mallory adds.

"Margaret happened to mention that she meets you here occasionally, so I thought," he says, pulling out her chair for her. "That you might enjoy eating here with me, too." Leo leans over and places a kiss on the top of his daughter's red head.

"Daddy, it's perfect I love their food here, I just didn't think you cared for Italian that much." Mallory picks up her menu and looks at it.

"I like Italian, it's just that I prefer to eat... oh never mind," Leo decides to drop it. He doesn't want to get another sermon from Mallory about him eating too much red meat.

"So... Daddy... are you missing Margaret? Is that why we're here? She's not even been gone one whole day yet Daddy. Can't you run the office without her?" She teases, peering over her menu.

"Mallory Ann," Leo growls, as his ears turns a little red at his daughter's teasing, little does she know how close to home she has hit.

"What's the matter there Daddy? Is it a little warm in here," she continues on with her teasing, having noticed how her father's eyes lit up when he was talking about his assistant. Maybe there is hope for her father yet. "Should I ask them to turn up the air conditioning for you?"

"Shud up and look at the menu, will ya," he grumbles, as he puts on his glasses and pulls his menu to his face, to hide behind.

"You do miss her, don't ya? That's why you didn't work very later today, isn't it?" She catches her father flinch.

"No... I don't," he lies. "There's just not a lot going on right now, so I decided to take advantage of it and leave early so I could take my only daughter out to dinner. A decision, I might add that I'm starting to regret," he smirks.

"Daddy," she replies.

"Ya know, I really should have given you up for adoption," he smiles, as he puts his menu down.

"Yeah, right. Besides, it's too late now," she laughs, happy to see her father grinning. She glances at her menu again, then back at her father. "I think I'll have the chicken fettuccine."

"Me, too," Leo agrees. He continues to smile, cause he knows that its Margaret's favorite dish here.

"That's Margaret's favorite thing to eat here. She gets it every time." She carefully watches her father, searching for any sign of feelings that he might have for his assistant.

"Really, I didn't know that," he lies; down playing that he knows anything personal about his assistant.

The waiter comes and takes their orders. They spend some time talking about what Mallory has been doing so far during her summer break. Mallory is careful not to mention her mother and her new husband. Mallory doesn't think of Howard as a stepfather, because she has a dad.

Mallory was not happy when her mother married Howard, a long time family friend, but she kept her mouth shut. When she told her father that her mother was getting remarried, she could see the hurt in his eyes. She knew he was lying when he told her that he already knew, but she let it slide.

Mallory stares at the man across the table from her and her eyes rest upon that worn golden band on his left hand. She can't understand why he still wears it, especially now that her mother has remarried. She wants to talk to her dad about it, but isn't sure how or what to say to him. Soon, their food arrives and their discussion turns towards Margaret.

"So, what has Margaret done lately to drive you crazy?" Mallory takes a bite of her food.

"She doesn't drive me... well... maybe she does sometimes," Leo inanely grins. "Besides, you know she's in Nashville right now for that annual FEW thing," Trying to sound uninterested in what Margaret might be doing right now.

"Have you heard from her?" Mallory asks, knowing that he probably has. She knows that Margaret will be checking up on him while she's gone.

"She just left this morning," Leo informs her, taking a drink of his water.

"Did she call you or not?" Mallory persists in her line of questioning.

"Yeah, she called earlier today," he relents, with a small smile. "She wouldn't stop rambling on about the hotel and how huge it was and blah... blah... You know Margaret," Leo says, putting more food in his mouth, his face turns a little sad at the thought of the coming week with no Margaret by his side.

"Daddy, is everything okay, you seem... I don't know," Mallory asks in a concerned voice, having noticed her father's change in demeanor.

"I'm fine, really. I'm just a little tired, and I'm not looking forward to spending a week at the office with a temp," he sighs.

"Or spending a week without Margaret?" She suggests, hoping to get some sort of response from him.

"Mallory," he growls.

"What, I was just making an observation. Geez, ya'd think I was accusing you of something torrid," she smiles.

"Mallory, it's just that... well since Gaza... lets just say, I'm glad that Nashville is not overseas." Leo looks off to the left and then back at his daughter. 'Like I'd let her go overseas, without me,' he thinks to himself.

"Yeah," Mallory bobs her head.

Leo smiles at Mallory's head bob. She's definitely picked up a few of Margaret's traits over the years, especially the constant worrying about him. "So, are ya planning on going anywhere this summer?" He asks his daughter.

"Not really," Mallory answers. Her mother wanted her to go to Europe with Howard and her, but she turned them down. She's not ready to play the happy stepdaughter yet, and maybe she never will be. She doesn't see what her mother sees in Howard. He's nothing like her dad.

"Do you have room for dessert?" Leo asks, as he wipes his mouth with a napkin. "They have Tiramisu, I think." He smiles, knowing his daughter's love for that dessert.

"Daddy, you know better than that. I love Tiramisu and I always have some here," she giggles, feeling like a young child again.

They finish their dessert, and Leo takes her home. Leo gets out of his car, opens her car door and walks her to her front door, "Night, Baby. Love ya," he tells her, kissing her on the cheek and giving her a warm hug.

"Wanna come in," Mallory asks, with smile on her face. She hopes that if she gets him inside, maybe she can get him to talk to her about what's going on with him lately.

"Nah, I'm gonna go home and get into bed," he responds with a yawn, pulling from her arms.

"Daddy, you look really tired. Why don't ya come in and use my spare bedroom?" Mallory wants a chance to talk with him and knows that his office is not the place to do it.

"I don't think so," he shakes his heads as he puts a quick hand to his mouth and yawns again. "Sorry."

"Daddy, please. It'll be fun. We can watch an old movie and maybe pop some popcorn, please. It's been a long time since we spent an evening together." Her voice takes on a child like quality.

"Okay," he can't resist her when she uses her little girl voice on him. She's always had him wrapped around her little finger. "I'll lock the car and grab my spare overnight bag out of the trunk."

Leo turns and walks towards his car. He smiles to himself. Mallory is so his child. She talks just like him, even though her mother was the one who really raised her. It used to drive Jenny crazy, when Mallory used broken Chicago English, just like he did.

Mallory watches her father limp to his car and frowns. His limp is more pronounced tonight than normal. She knows he must really be tired or stressed if he's unable to hide his limp. She wonders what's really going on in his life right now.

* * *

Father and daughter spend the evening watching an old movie on the couch and eating popcorn. Every attempt that Mallory makes to get her father to open up is met with a frown and a quick change of the subject. Eventually, Mallory gives up and just tries to enjoy the rest of the evening. Obviously, her father isn't ready to talk about whatever's bothering him, so she decides to concentrate on getting him to relax a little.

Later that night, Mallory is in her bedroom, trying to get to sleep when she hears her father's cell phone ring. She hopes it's not the President calling him back to the White House, because he's so worn-out tonight. He fell asleep even before the movie was over. She gets out of bed, goes over to the wall that separates their rooms and listens to her father's distinctive gravelly voice.

"Margaret, I'm not at the West Wing. I'm over at Mallory's that why you couldn't get me at my hotel. I left right after I talked with you this afternoon. If you don't believe me, you can call her." He suggests, sitting down on the bed and toeing out of his shoes.

When Mallory hears him say Margaret, she listens even more intently. She wonders why Margaret's calling him this late at night. As she eavesdrops, she's surprised at the gentle inflection of her father's voice. He sounds like he used to, years ago, when he talked to her mom on the phone, when she was off somewhere. His voice is very tender and caring.

Mallory smiles, goes back to her bed, lies down and thinks about tonight. She remembers how her father's face lit up when he was talking about Margaret and now the phone call and his soft voice. Why hasn't she noticed this about her father before? When did this all start? She warmly smiles. She's always suspected that Margaret was secretly in love with him.

Mallory has always loved Margaret and thinks that she would be the perfect match for her father. He really deserves to be loved by someone special. Maybe, just maybe, Margaret can help him find some happiness. Now, if she can just get her father to realize what's going on. Now that Mallory is less worried about her father, she quickly falls asleep.

* * *

"Leo, It's not that I don't believe you," she responds, laying back on her bed and switching the phone from one ear to the other. "I'm just surprised you're staying there."

"Well, ya know she's always been able to get me to do things and ...well... besides she mentioned an old movie and popcorn, and that's all it took," he softly confides, as he arches his back in a long stretch.

Margaret makes a mental note about the movie and popcorn, "Yeah, she's always had you around her little finger. But, she's such a good kid, I can see why it's hard to tell her no," Margaret agrees.

"Oh, wait till I tell her that you referred to her as a kid. She'll love that," he tells her with a soft laugh.

"Leo, don't you dare tell her I said that," she protests, rolling her eyes as she sits up on the edge of the bed.

"So what's it worth to ya," he teases, as he pulls her shirt out of his pants and unbuttons it.

"Ah... well now let's see. I already come running whenever you bellow my name, I make your coffee, bring most of your meals for you, answer your phone, take your messages, keep your schedule, pick up your dry cleaning, pack your clothes for trips, and oh, I've even been known to mend your shirts," she rattles off the list quickly. "Need I go on?"

"Well, I don't recall ever asking you to mend my clothes," he slightly grumbles, trying to hold his cell phone with his chin as he pulls off his shirt.

"Leo," she quips, standing, sliding into her slippers and walking out into the living room to make sure that she locked her hotel door.

"But, it does sound like you do enough outside your job description, so you're off the hook, this time. So, I guess I won't tell Mal you referred to her as a kid," he laughs, as he unbuttons his trousers and lets them fall to the floor and then steps out of them.

"You bet your"

"Margaret," he mellifluously growls, standing there only in his silk navy blue boxers and t-shirt.

"What? It's not like you never say a bad word," sitting back down on the bed, and flipping her bunny slippers off her feet.

"When," he stops talking to quickly pull off his t-shirt. "Have you ever heard me cuss?" He asks, sitting down on the bed and pulling off his socks and throwing them on top of his shoes.

"Leo McGarry, there's not a day that goes by that some bad word doesn't roll out of your mouth and I might add that lately they have been increasing in frequency and magnitude," she informs him with a frown.

Leo's temper has been worse than normal lately. She knows that the discord between him, and the President is the cause, but she worried that his increased temper has increased his blood pressure too. She knows it has been a while since he's been to the doctor for a complete physical, unless he's been making his own appointments again, and he had better not be doing that. She quickly decides that she's going to make an appointment for him next week. He hasn't had one since Jenny left him.

"Well, if people wouldn't try their damnest to piss me off all the Gwad damn time, I wouldn't have reason to cuss as much," he informs her, as he rummages though his overnight bag on the bed looking for his pajamas. He normally doesn't wear anything but boxers and a t-shirt to bed, but he's not home tonight.

"See, there you go again," she laughs.

"What'd I say?" He pauses, thinking back over his last comments. He stands there with his pajamas in his hand.

"See, you don't even realize when you cuss. It's just second nature to you anymore," she informs him, as she shakes her head.

"Damnit Margaret, I do too realize when I cuss," he growls, as he tries to pull up his pajama bottoms, almost dropping the phone. He has to let go of his bottoms in able to catch the phone.

"Yeah right," she blows her bangs off her forehead. "And just now you said damnit Margaret, and I bet you don't even know you did it."

"I did?" He sheepishly asks, his face turning red cause he realizes he's standing there clad only in his boxers and talking to Margaret on the phone.

"Yeah, you did."

"Sorry, I" Leo is starting to get a reaction to being on the phone with her and standing there in just his boxers.

"Leo, it's okay, really," she says soothingly. "I just think you need to try to relax a little more."

"Yeah, maybe so," he concedes, looking down at himself. Not really believing how he is responding to 'her' voice on the phone. 'It's not like she can tell I'm having this kinda of reaction. Thank God for that,' he thinks to himself.

"Leo you need to get to bed... I can tell you're tired," she wishes she were there with him.

"Yeah, maybe. Look... Margaret I didn't mean to yell at ya earlier. I've just been a little stressed and I... well I..."

"Leo, it's okay. Get some sleep. I'll talk to you tomorrow?" She says with tenderness in her voice.

"Yeah, okay. I'll talk with ya tomorrow. Night," he tells her, even though he knows it's going to be difficult getting to sleep tonight.

"Good night Leo," she says softly and then turns off her phone.

* * *

Leo finishes putting on his pajamas. He feels bad that he yelled at Margaret. She deserves so much better than that. He's also still a little excited and is still trying to calm himself down. He lies down and berates himself until he finally falls asleep, dreaming about his Margaret.

After Margaret talks with Leo on the phone, she spends the rest of the evening ignoring the TV and fretting about Leo. Around midnight she climbs into bed and hugs her extra pillow tight, imagining that it's him. She falls asleep daydreaming about Leo and the life she wishes they could have together.

* * *

Mallory wakes up the next morning and is surprised to hear her father moving around in her kitchen. Normally on those rare occasions when he relents and stays over, he's up and gone to the White House before its even light outside. She wanders out of her bedroom and into her kitchen, "Hey Daddy," she walks over to him and peers into the skillet.

"Morning, Baby. How did ya sleep?" He smiles at the puzzled look on her face, and then kisses her cheek. "What do you want to drink?" He asks, as he walks to the refrigerator.

"I slept fine and I'd like orange juice, please," she answers as she watches him. He seems better this morning, but his still being here is unusual, to say the least. "I'm just a little surprised to find you still here. It's not that I don't like you here, but what 'are' you still doing here?"

"Making you breakfast," he smirks, walking over to the stove and checking on the French toast, he's frying.

"I can see and smell that." She can't remember the last time her father cooked her breakfast. She's glad he is because he's a great cook. "But, normally you are up and at the West Wing by now. Aren't you afraid that Uncle Jed will bomb Canada without you there in rein him in?" She teases.

Leo face tenses at the word bomb, but he quickly recovers. "Nah, he's... umm" He doesn't continue. He can't think of a good enough lie to tell her. He keeps staring at the skillet, not willing to look at her.

Mallory notices the change in her father demeanor. "He's what, Daddy? What's going on that you have been trying so hard to sidestep? Is Uncle Jed sick? Is it his MS. Is that why you're so upset?" Mallory walks over to her father and stands toe to toe with him.

"He's fine, nothing is going on," at least he thinks the President is fine. He hasn't seen him for almost a week. Leo turns off the burner and places the French toast on the awaiting plates. He then quickly wipes his hands on a dishtowel and looks at his watch, and he heads for the kitchen door. "Man, I didn't realize it was this late. I really should be getting to work. Sorry, about the mess," as he moves to pick up his overnight bag and then to the door.

"Daddy, what's going on?" She gently grabs a hold of his arm, having finally caught up with him in the hallway. Now she's really getting scared. Her father doesn't normally just walk away like this.

"I..." Leo's tired of the charade. He's tired of so many things. "We're umm... it's just that... well we're not really talking right now," he breaths out in a heavy sigh. He's slightly relieved to have it out in the open. "It seems... he no longer needs... my advice." Leo looks down at the hand on his arm and then into the concerned eyes of his daughter.

"Is this about the car bombing?" She guesses, because it was after that event that Margaret started acting funny whenever Mallory asked about her dad.

"Yeah, well... but it really sorta started after" Leo lowers his eyes; he can't stand to let Mallory see the pain in them and he still can't talk about Zoey's kidnapping, especially now after what he said to Jed in the tunnel at Camden Yards.

"Zoey's kidnapping," she supplies. That's something that her father and she have never really talked about. She knows that he's been different since then, but she's never been able to get him to talk about it. She suspects that he blames himself for it, cause she knows how his mind works.

Leo silently nods his head.

"Oh Daddy, I'm sorry" she is on the verge of tears. It kills her to see her father this hurt. The White House has been his biggest joy and his worse nightmare.

"Baby, don't. It'll be fine, really." He tries to convince her and himself. "It'll blow over."

"Is this why Margaret is keeping closer than usual tabs on you?" She lets go of his arm, taking a step back.

Leo looks at his daughter with a perplexed look.

"I heard your umm... cell phone ring last night and... then you talking to her," she shyly confesses.

"Yeah, well ya know how she worries, needlessly I might add," Leo says emphatically as he wraps his arms around his daughter and gives her a tight hug. He's not sure who needs it more. He sighs and lets go, "Baby, I really do need to get to work. Call ya later," he says, kissing her on her cheek. He heads for his car.

"Daddy," she calls after him.

"Yeah," he says, as he stops at the bottom of her steps and turns around.

"Umm... are you still going to your... poker games on Thursday nights?" She guardedly asks.

"Mallory," he growls, as he puts his hands in his pockets.

"Daddy, it's just that" Mallory folds her arms and stares at her father with apprehensive eyes.

"I know you worry," he says as he shakes his head. "Between you and Margaret, it's starting to be a toss up as to who worries the most about me."

"Well, we have to since you don't take very good care of yourself," she politely informs him.

"I do," he argues, but he knows it's not true. He needs to get all of his suits altered, because they just hang on him.

"Daddy, you would forget to eat if Margaret didn't put food in front of you everyday," she retaliates.

"That's not true. I eat at the hotel," he contradicts.

"Speaking of the hotel," she quips with a smirky grin.

"No," Leo holds up a hand, palm first, to stop her. "Lets not go there again," he almost begs.

"Okay, but someday we're gonna sit down and have this talk," she says bobbing her head.

"I know... I know," he surrenders, waving his hands up in the air.

"Okay," she smiles. "Oh by the way, tell Margaret I said hey, if... you know, she should happen to call you today," she smugly smiles.

"If she calls, I'll tell her," Leo says with a slight frown.

"Oh, I'm sure she'll call," Mallory informs her dad.

"Well, she probably will and I'll be sure to tell her," Leo gives her a small grin, turns and walks down her sidewalk. He gets in his car and heads off to work, not really looking forward to spending the week there without his Margaret, especially with everything that has been going on lately in the White House.

* * *

Leo gets to work and finds his temp is already there. "Morning," he says, as he enters his outer office.

"Mr. McGarry," she says, jumping up from behind the desk. "Hi, I'm Sarah Miller, I'll be filling in for Margaret this week." She has never seen him this up close before. She is very nervous about meeting him. She has heard so many stories about him from the others in the pool.

"Please, call me Leo," he tells her, reaching for the lone message in his in basket. He smiles when he sees it's from Margaret.

"She just called and well... she seemed umm... sorta surprised that you weren't here yet," she tells him, awkwardly, as she notices his eyes twinkle a little when he discoveries that Margaret called.

"Yeah, I'm a little later than normal," he confirms. "I stayed over at my daughter's last night and then made breakfast for her this morning," he tells her, smiling that Margaret has already been checking up on him today. He walks into his office to return Margaret's call.

Sarah sits back down. She's pleasantly surprised by how nice he seems. Everyone down in the pool talks about how they hate temping in his office. But, she thinks that any father who makes breakfast for his daughter can't be as bad as she's been lead to believe. She breathes a sigh of relief as she quietly thinks to herself, 'Maybe this won't be as bad as she thought it would be. Besides, whatever the cologne he's wearing is absolutely wonderful smelling, and he's very handsome in that navy blue double-breasted suit.'

* * *

Leo sits down at his desk, grabs the phone and punches in Margaret's cell phone number.

"Hello," she responds, after just a couple of rings.

"You called?" He smirks.

"Where have you been?" She asks trying to keep the worried tone at bay, but failing miserably.

"I was at Mallory's, making her breakfast," he explains, as he tightens his lips at the anxious sound in her voice.

"Oh," she says, immediately calming down. "How do you like your temp?" She asks, quickly changing the subject before Leo can pick on her about being worried about him.

"She seems nice, but more importantly she hasn't bothered me with an infernal egg joke yet," he teases.

"Well, the day is still young and you just got there. I left her instructions on how to handle you," she smirks.

"I bet you did," he laughs. It's so good to hear her voice. He shakes his head at how lost he is when she's not here.

"Leo," she says, looking at her watch. "I'm sorry, but I need to go downstairs. The kick off gathering is in fifteen minutes."

"Okay, have fun."

"Bye," they both say together.

Leo hangs up the phone and grabs the briefing book off his desk that he had been trying to read yesterday. He gets up and moves to his wing back chair in front of his window. He sits down and starts to read.

He's been reading for about forty-five minutes, when Sarah knocks on his office door.

"Mr. McGarry," she says, peeking her head into his office.

"Leo," he reminds her.

"Sorry. Margaret is on the phone for you," she tells him.

"Again," he almost growls.

"She sounds like she really needs to talk with you," she says, backing out of his office, giving him privacy.

"Thanks," he says, getting up and walking to his desk. "Margaret?" He says, after he picks up his phone.

"Leo, I don't know what to do," she says in an anxious voice.

"Margaret, what's going on?" He's immediately concerned by the tone of her voice.

"I made a mistake. The forum for my branch of government doesn't start until tomorrow," she tells him in a flustered voice.

"So," he replies, nonchalantly. He's relieved that she's okay. He didn't know what to think when he first heard her voice.

"Leo, I'm here under false pretense today. I have nothing to do, and I'm on the government's clock and dime," she tells him in a panic, as she paces around in her room.

"Margaret, calm down. It was an honest mistake. It's no big deal," he tries to convince her. He's not worried about an extra day there.

"But Leo, all I did today was go to the kickoff ceremony, then networked for about thirty minutes and then came back to my room," she continues.

"See, you did some things. Now, go out and enjoy yourself," he instructs her. "Hey, isn't there a huge outlet mall right next door to your hotel and doesn't your hotel provide a free shuttle to it?" He asks, knowing that she loves to shop and find bargains.

"Yeah, there is," she says, bobbing her head. "Wait a minute, how did you know about that?" She asks, with a surprised look on her face.

"Ah... you told me," he lies. The only reason he knows about the mall and the shuttle is because he read about it on the Internet yesterday afternoon.

"Oh, I guess I forgot. But... I should be"

"You... should be enjoying yourself is what you should be doing," he orders her in his boss like voice.

"Leo you could fax me something here, and I could work on it for you and then fax it back," she says grasping straws.

"And... what would that be?" He asks, in a sarcastic voice.

"I don't know," she relents.

"Like there's enough around here to even keep me busy right now," he mutters a little louder than he had intended.

"What did you say Leo?"

"Nothing," he says. He hadn't intended on saying that out loud.

"Leo, it just doesn't feel right, shopping on the government's time and money," she argues.

"Well, I wouldn't use your government issued credit card if I were you," he laughs into the phone. Knowing this will get a rise from her.

"Leo, I know better than that and that's not what I meant anyway and you know it," she lightly huffs back into the phone. She knows he's just pulling her chain, and she loves it when they banter back and forth like this. They sorta sound like an old married couple when they act like this. Something that she wishes with all her heart was true.

"Margaret, I'm still your boss and I'm ordering you to go to the mall. You deserve some down time. You have enough time coming to you from all the long hours you keep here at work. We'll just call it comp time and leave it at that," he informs her in very boss like tone.

"Well..." She's still not convinced.

"Well nothing, now... you go girl and shop till ya drop," he says.

"Yes sir," she laughs, at his usual slang use.

"Good girl," he smiles.

"Leo," she whines.

"Oh, sorry," he laughs.

"No you're not."

Leo decides to ignore her last come back and tell her about the brilliant idea he's come up with while they've been quarrelling about her shopping. "Margaret, do you still have my credit card that I gave you, in case of emergencies?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I stuck it in my wallet. I've only had to use it a couple of times for you in the past." Margaret digs though her purse, finds her wallet and takes out the card. "Yeah, I've still got it."

"Great, well I want you to use it," he informs her.

"Okay," she says with a puzzled look on her face. "What do you need me to buy you down here?"

"No, Margaret, I want you to use it for yourself," he explains, knowing that he's going to have a battle on his hands convincing her to use it.

"What!"

"Margaret, please go out and buy some nice things for yourself... call it an early birthday present from me," he offers, hoping that she won't fight him too hard about this.

"Leo, it's your card," she adamantly reminds him.

"Yes, we're already covered that point, fully I might add," he taunts her.

"But," she protests.

"Margaret, I'm ordering you to use and if you don't spend enough money to suit me, there'll be hell to pay and you can count on that," he informs her, in a very determined tone.

"Leo, you've already been so generous and surprised me with the room upgrade," she reminds him.

"So?"

"So... that's enough," she emphasizes.

"No, it's not nearly enough for all that you have done for me over the years. Margaret, please use the card, it's only money and ya know I have more than enough, since you always read the disclosure reports," he laughs, letting her know that he's not upset with her for reading them.

"Leo!" She squeaks.

"And don't tell me I spend too much, we've already done that song and dance this week, Okay?" He banters back.

"I... don't know Leo, it just doesn't feel right," she says, raising her eyebrows and shaking her head.

"Margaret, I want ya to do me a favor."

"Sure, anything," she blindly offers.

Leo's smile goes wide at her willingness to do something for him, without even knowing what he wants. "Would ya buy something nice for Mallory, too?" Leo's voice goes soft thinking about his daughter.

Margaret is very touched by Leo's offer and when his voice goes soft, and low, and she has no other choice but to give into him, whenever she hears him use that gentle voice. "Leo, okay I'll buy something for myself too," she relents. "I really can't thank you enough, you... are too sweet."

"Nah, I just don't want you being bored on your free day down there." He expresses as nonchalantly as he can. He would love it if she were his to take care of all the time.

Margaret blinks back a tear. She knows this man far too well. He's a kind and generous man who's hit some rough spots along the way and has never really been able to forgive himself for his past mistakes. She worries that he'll never find happiness. She'd love to be the one who helps him it but isn't sure that he's interested in her that way.

"Well, I disagree, but we'll leave it alone for now. Is there anything in particular that you had in mind for Mallory?" She asks her boss.

"No, not really." He's never been good at buying gifts and has relied on Margaret to do it for him for years. She drives him absolutely crazy at Christmas time with the endless parade of presents and cards that she trots though his office.

"I'm sure you'll find something that's perfect. You always do. Oh, and if you see a good deal on the brand of undershirts I wear; would you pick me up some? The hotel laundry ruined a bunch of them again," he says, shaking his head in disgust at the huge amount of starch they used on them last time.

"Okay, no problem. Leo, I just want to say again that this is very kind of you," Margaret has a warm feeling in her stomach, from the way he's been treating her lately, she wonders if now would be a good time to tell him that she has feelings for him.

"Have a good day shopping, I'll talk with you later... I imagine," he teases her gently.

"Yeah, probably," she snickers. "I know the first thing I'm gonna do after I get back from shopping all day. I'm gonna strip down and soak in that huge sunken tub." Margaret quickly puts a hand to her mouth, as her face turns crimson instantly. She can't believe she just told him that. She's been so comfortable talking with him on the phone that she forgot she wasn't chatting with one of her girlfriends and just blurted it out.

"Okay... umm... enjoy... your day. Bye," Leo sputters out, quickly hanging up the phone as he once again pictures her sitting in that tub. He stays seated behind his desk, waiting to calm down, once again.

TBC in Part 3

Feedback is greatly appreciated! Please let me know what you think!!

Thanks!!!!

Bev (adoreleo): 

Lynn (leosimpishgrin): 


	3. Part 3

Part 3

See disclaimers in Part 1.

The rest of Monday morning just drags by for Leo. He attends a couple of low-level meetings but doesn't actively participate in any of them. He doesn't have very much to do for most of the day. He tries to do some reading and then answers some email. Sarah is keeping herself busy with the long list of chores that Margaret left for her to work on all this week.

Leo leaves the White House around two o'clock for his doctor's appointment. The first thing he has done when he gets there is to go and have his hip and knee x-rayed. After that he has the physical examination, which is very painfull, from where and how the doctor has to manipulate his leg and hip. The diagnosis he receives from the doctor is exactly what he's already suspected. Doctor Franklin tells him the same thing as he did in previous examinations, but this time the doctor is very adamant about what Leo needs to have done and that it needs to be done soon. Really soon.

Leo leaves the doctor's office with a very noticeable limp. He's already taken a dose of the Naproxen that the doctor gave him for the pain and inflammation from the examination. He hates taking the Naproxen on an empty stomach, but he's got too much pain from his hip right now to worry about how it's going to bother his stomach later. He just hopes it kicks in before he reaches the White House.

* * *

Margaret walks out of the Nashville Mills Mall, her arms full of shopping bags and plops down on the first available bench she finds at the pickup/drop-off area. She arranges her purchases, so they aren't in anyone else's way and then looks at her watch. It's only about fifteen more minutes until the next scheduled shuttle from the hotel.

Margaret decides to call Leo and tell him about all her great deals that she got today. She digs her cell phone out of her purse, only to find the battery dead. "Damnit," she mutters, having forgotten to charge it last night. She'll just have to wait until she gets back to the hotel until she can call him.

Margaret leans back on the bench, closes her eyes and soaks up some of the warm southern sun. It's a gorgeous day in the Volunteer state. She had a fun time shopping and she's looking forward to tonight. She's going out with Lynette and some others to the Wildhorse Saloon. She's always wanted to go there. She loves to watch the country music specials that are taped there.

The saloon is also a great place to see new rising singers and if they're lucky they may get to see a well-known country singer or two, because they've been known to stop by and perform without any advanced notice. She smiles at the prospect of possibly getting to meet her favorite singer, George Strait. But, since she's an avid fan of his, she knows that's not going to happen, because he's on tour out west right now.

Margaret is enjoying her little daydream when all of a sudden she gets a small pang of guilt. She's neglected to tell Leo about her plans for tonight. Not that she needs to or that he would really care, she guesses, and it's not like they have a relationship other than boss and assistant, but she doesn't feel right about telling him she's going to a bar. Well, it's more than just a bar, but still, she doesn't want him to know about her going to it.

Margaret is busy daydreaming about what 'could be' for her and Leo if only he cared for her, when shuttle arrives. She gathers up her bags and climbs on board. Soon she's back in the comfort of her luxurious suite. She plugs in her cell phone, even though she knows there's not enough time for it to get fully charged. Then she locates her calling card inside her wallet and calls Leo.

"Mr. McGarry's office," Sarah cheerfully says, after picking up the phone.

"Hi, Sarah. It's Margaret," she says.

"Hi Margaret, how's the weather out there?"

"It's wonderful. How are you doing there?"

"So far, so good," she replies.

"Is Leo in?" She asks.

"No, he had an appointment late this afternoon and said he wouldn't be back to the White House until around four or so," she informs Margaret.

"An appointment," she says with a raised eyebrow. "I don't remember him having an appointment outside of the White House," she continues, as she's racks her brain. She's almost positive he didn't.

"It wasn't on his schedule that you left for me, either," she grimaces as soon as she lets that slip, wishing she hadn't divulged that piece of information. She's heard about Margaret's insistence about him not making his own appointments.

"That man, he knows he's not supposed to make his own appointments," she grumbles. "He knows the rules. Well, at least he should, cause I've printed them out enough for him."

"Margaret, I really wish I hadn't said anything. I didn't mean to get you upset or Mr. McGarry in trouble with you. Please don't say anything to him," she begs.

Margaret takes a couple seconds to gather herself, "Okay, I won't. He's just lucky that I'm not there or there'd be hell to pay."

"Thanks, besides..." Sarah breathes a sigh of relief, as she looks around to see if anyone is close by. "He's not like what I expected at all. He's been very nice. I don't understand why people in the pool don't want to temp for Mr. McGarry."

"Well... he can have his moments," she pauses, thinking about him for a couple of seconds, "but I love working for him. Oh, there is one thing that I forgot to tell you, he prefers to be called Leo."

"Yeah, he keeps reminding me, but it seems strange to refer to him like that. It's like... like sorta calling the President by his first name."

"Well, I guess it does seem like that, but I've worked for Leo since his second year as Labor Secretary."

"How long have you worked for him?" She asks, after hearing Margaret's voice go soft when she talks about Mr. McGarry.

"Well... it was fourteen years this past spring."

"Wow, that's a long time to be someone's assistant. I'm hoping that someday I can move up the ladder... ah... not that I'm saying... that umm... you..." Sarah didn't mean for it to come out that way.

"Sarah, it's okay. Trust me, I've had several job offers and opportunities over the years that I've worked for Leo," she enlightens her young protégée.

"But you always stayed?"

"Yeah, I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment," she laughs, as she notices that it's getting close to the time that she needs to start getting ready for her night out. "I chose to stay and well... I think it turned out pretty good. I work twenty feet from the Oval office, and I enjoy helping Leo. He's accomplished a lot at the Labor Department and at the White House and well... I'd like to think that I helped him get to where he is today."

"I'm sure you did."

"Sarah, I'm sorry, but I need to start getting ready for a night out with some friends. Don't bother telling Leo I called."

"Okay," she happily agrees, knowing that Leo would realize that Margaret knows that he had made his own appointment. "Bye."

"Bye," she says, as she lies back on the bed and thinks about the first time she walked into Leo McGarry's office at the Labor Department.

* * *

Flashback to Spring 1990

A twenty-six old Margaret McGuire enters the Labor building for a job interview as an assistant. She's recently out of college with huge college loans to pay off. It has taken her six years to work her way though college, because she couldn't afford to go full time. She hastily quit her part time job after she got her degree because she felt confident that she would find a better job soon thereafter.

But after three months of searching and coming up empty handed, she's getting a little desperate. What modest bit of savings she has is going to run out soon, so she decided to interview for the job. She really didn't want to be someone's assistant, but her friend Lynette who had dropped out of college the previous year, due to financial hardship, is working at the Labor Department and told her about a job opening there.

Margaret signs in at the front desk and is given directions. She heads towards the bank of elevators. She rides one up to the appropriate floor and finds the room number she was given. She's very surprised to find herself at the office of Leo McGarry, the Labor Secretary. Surely, someone a lot more qualified would be dying to have such a high profile job with a Cabinet member.

She hesitantly enters the outer office and finds it empty. She stands there for a minute or so wondering what to do. She eventually gets up the courage and goes over the closed door and knocks on it.

"Yeah, come in," the gruff voice on the other side of the doors says.

Margaret slowly opens the door and sticks her head in, "Excuse me, but I'm here for a job interview as an assistant."

"Okay, but you're gonna have to come all the way into the room for that," he points out in a huff, barely even looking up at her.

Margaret walks into the room, closes the door and stands in the middle of the office, staring at the man behind the desk who isn't paying her any attention. "Mr. McGarry, I can come back if you're too busy right now," she blurts out.

"It's Leo and it's always this busy around here," he says, motioning around the office with his hand. "So, if ya don't think you can handle it, then there's no need for you to interview for the job," he bluntly states.

"No, I just meant if you didn't have the time, I could come back," she explains.

"Sit," he says, pointing to the chair in front of his very cluttered and unorganized desk.

Margaret walks over to the chair, sits down, opens up her briefcase, rummages though it for her resume, "Here's my resume," she says, handing him the paper.

Leo gives it a cursory glance, before he tosses it on his desk. "So, have ya ever worked as a secretary before?"

"Yes, I did for a couple of years after high school," she informs him.

"Any college?"

"Yes, I have a business degree from..."

Leo cut her off, "Have ya worked for the government before?"

"No," she replies, wondering why he didn't read and pay better attention to her resume.

"Can you take dictation?"

"Yes," she answers.

"How many words per minute can you type?"

"240," she smoothly says.

Leo raises an eyebrow, "240?" He shakes his head in disbelief.

"Yes," she huffs. She notices a typewriter over in the corner of his office. She gets up and walks over to it. She inserts a piece of paper into it that was lying in a pile next to it. She walks back over to his desk, grabs a book of law off of it and walks back over to the typewriter. She sits down and opens the book. "I'm ready anytime you are," she says to Leo.

"Ready for what?" He says with a very puzzled look on his face. He's been watching her these past few seconds and has no idea what to make of her.

"I want you to tell me when to start, and then time me for a minute and tell me when to stop," she informs him.

Leo looks at his watch, waits for the seconds to zero out, "Okay, start."

Leo is amazed at how fast her fingers fly over the keys of the typewriter. 'There's no way she could be actually typing anything other than gibberish,' he thinks to himself. He returns his eyes to his watch. "Okay, stop," he says.

Margaret yanks the paper from the typewriter, walks over and tosses it at Leo, "Here. Two Hundred and forty words and no mistakes. I used to type people's papers in college to help pay my rent, the faster I typed the more money I made," she informed him. "And if you'd given my resume more than just a passing glance, you wouldn't have to ask me all these questions. Which is a waste of both your time and mine," she says as she stands ready to leave his office. "Now I see why no one else here wants this job," she mutters to herself as she turns to leave.

"What are you doing?" He asks as he stands, surprised at her boldness.

"Leaving," she says.

"Don't ya want the job?" He asks, he can't remember the last person who stood up to him. He likes that she won't be used or walked on.

"Yes, I need the job desperately," she admits.

"Okay, then. Can you start right away?" He gives her a lopsided grin.

Margaret stares at him with a puzzled look on her face. This is by far the strangest job interview she's ever had. She finally bobs her head, "Yes, Sir. I can. Do you want me to start now? Today?" She says, captivated by his lopsided grin.

"Good, but no, you need to go to Human Resources today if you can and fill out all the paperwork, and get your photo ID. Do you have a passport? You will need one for this job, because I may need you to go with me on business trips, out of the country, from time to time. Be here tomorrow morning at seven," he says, as he moves back behind his desk.

"Okay," she turns and heads for the door.

"Oh, by the way. What's your name?" He asks.

"Margaret," she tells him, as she opens the door to leave.

"Okay Margaret, I'll see ya tomorrow," he says, sitting down and getting right back to work.

"Yes sir," she tells him, leaving his office.

"Margaret," Leo bellows, from his office.

Margaret quickly pops her head back inside the office, "Yes Sir."

"Please call me Leo," he informs her again.

"Okay, sir, I mean Leo," she returns, as she backs out of his office again.

End of flashback

* * *

Margaret sighs at the memory and then looks at her watch. She needs to hurry if she's going to meet Lynette downstairs in fifteen minutes. She quickly gets ready, grabs her cell phone and purse and then rushes out the door.

* * *

Leo arrives back at the White House shortly after five o'clock. When he gets out of his car, he's relieved to discover that he's able to cover his limp and that the pain is almost gone. He slowly and carefully walks to his office. He returns a couple of phone calls, and then checks his email.

By five thirty, Leo tells Sarah to go on home and he heads for his hotel. He spends the ride home, wondering what Margaret bought for herself today. He's a little surprised that she hasn't called yet and told him about all her purchases. Maybe he read her wrong earlier today; maybe she's not interested in him.

Leo tries to push those doubts out of his head. Maybe he'll go for a walk tonight. His hip doesn't seem to be bothering him at all right now. He used to love to walk the mall area when he was Labor Secretary. He sits back and stares out the window, watching the sights of DC and daydreaming about Margaret.

* * *

Leo decides that he will take that walk after a light dinner; he really wasn't very hungry. He leaves his hotel and heads towards the Mall area. While he's walking, he can't get Margaret out of his head and then his hip starts acting up again. So when he reaches Washington Square, he decides to sit down and call Margaret. It's a little before eight, and he's worried that she hasn't called him yet. He flips open his phone and presses in her number.

"Hello," Margaret yells into the phone.

"Hey Margaret. Where are you?" He hears lots of music and loud talking in the background.

"Um... I'm at the Wildhorse Saloon," she replies in a guilty voice, as she drops her head.

"It sounds like you're having a good time," he replies, trying to ease her mind.

"Yeah, it's a really neat place... but I've only had a couple of drinks. We umm... came early for happy hour," she quickly confesses, almost like a young kid getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Margaret, it's okay, you don't have to justify yourself to me, have a good time, that's part of the reason why you're there." He shakes his head at her feeling guilty over just having a couple of drinks with friends.

"Okay, well I wasn't planning on staying long. We're just going to eat, watch the show and then leave," she sheepishly explains.

"Margaret, I'm going to get off of here. You stay and have fun, and I'll talk with ya tomorrow." He doesn't want to put a damper of her fun.

"Leo, are you still at work?"

"No, I left... around five thirty tonight, there wasn't much going on so..."

"Oh, so you're at home," she feels guilty that she's out having a good time and he's home alone in his hotel room.

"Actually, I'm out taking a walk," he informs her.

"Okay," Margaret gets a worried look on her face. Leo used to take lots of walks when he first got back from rehab. He said it helped him fight the cravings for alcohol. He used to drag her all over the Mall. She hopes this isn't the reason for his walk tonight.

"And, before your overactive imagination kicks into high gear, no I'm not walking to avoid drinking. I just felt like a walk, okay?" He knows Margaret far too well. He knows how her mind can quickly jump to conclusions. Even if he has felt the temptation to drink lately, he's not about to tell her that.

"Okay," she breathes out. "Leo I trust you," she adds, wanting him to know that she does. "Can I call you when I get back to the hotel?"

"Margaret, you don't have to check up on me again tonight, I'm fine. I'm gonna finish my walk, and then I might get in the hot tub at the hotel." That is if he can find his swim trunks. It's been a long time since he's been in the hot tub, but he knows it will help his hip to feel better.

"Leo, is your back bothering you?"

"Margaret, will you stop worrying."

"I can't. It's part of my job description," she sarcastically enlightens him.

"Well, I don't think so, and I dare ya to find that in your job description and show me when you get back," he smirks.

"Well, since I always type mine own. You'll never know what's in there," she softly laughs.

"True, you could always try to pull a fast one on me. But remember, I do have to sign it?"

"Well, I have your signature down pretty good," she implies.

"Margaret," he growls.

"I could sign it, but I won't. I promise," she says as she crosses her heart.

"Okay, well... you go eat and have some fun. I guess I'll probably talk to you tomorrow," he hopes.

Margaret thinks that Leo's last remark sounded more like a question than a statement. "If not sooner," she informs him.

"You could call me when you get back to the hotel tonight, so I know you got back okay. You're not the only one who worries," Leo's voice drops an octave when he tells her that.

"I'll call, but only if it's not too late."

"Okay, have fun. Bye."

"Bye," she smiles as she flips her cell phone shut and goes back to the table and joins her friends.

"Was that your boyfriend calling and checking up on you?" One of the women at the table smirks.

"No that was my boss," she blushes.

"Sounds like he's more than that," another one joins in the teasing.

"I wish," she mutters.

"What was that you said?" Her best friend Lynette asks.

"I said, oh never mind. I believe it was my turn to buy the next round," she waves for the barmaid to come to their table.

"I think someone's trying to get us off the subject," Lynette suggests.

"Yeah she is, but as long as she's buying, who cares," another woman laughs. Soon, the whole table is laughing and chatting about other things, much to Margaret's relief.

* * *

Lynette walks back with Margaret though the hotel lobby. They're laughing and talking about the good time they had tonight. They get in the elevator, and Margaret inserts her card key.

"Hey, how did you manage to get on the expensive floor? Was there a mistake and they had to put you up there?" She asks, with a puzzled look on her face.

"Ah... no my room was reserved for that floor," she replies, lowering her eyes.

"How did you manage that?" Lynette asks, following her off the elevator. "We made our reservations at the same time."

"Well, it's a long story. Can't we just leave it at that?" Margaret pleads, as she heads for her room.

"I don't think so," Lynette says, as they stop outside the Presidential Suite. Margaret opens the door and Lynette walks into the room.

"Margaret, oh my God! How are you paying for this room? There's no way this is inside the Per Diem rate."

"I'm not," she shyly replies.

"Well, who is then?"

"Well... umm... Leo is," she blushes, as her hands fidget.

"Leo!" Lynette practically yells.

"He did it behind my back. He called and upgraded my room as a surprise," she rushes to explain.

"Wow, this room is something else," she says, wandering around. "You are so lucky to have him for a boss. Are you sure there's nothing going on between the two of you?" She teases.

"Lynette, for the last time. There is nothing going on between Leo and me," she huffs, as she crosses her arms and stares at her friend. She's not about to admit to her that she's in love with her boss.

"Okay, take it easy. I was just teasing," she offered. "So which bedroom is yours?" She asks staring at the multitude of doors.

"This one," Margaret says as she leads her friend into her bedroom. She gives Lynette as full tour of the hotel suite and then ushers her to the door. She still wants to call Leo before she goes to bed.

"Lynette, I really need to get to bed. So, I'll see you tomorrow for breakfast," Margaret opens the door.

"Okay, I can take I hint," she smiles with a wink. "I bet you just need to call your boss," Lynette holds up her hands and makes quotations marks with her fingers when she says your boss. "See you at breakfast," she calls over her shoulder as she disappears down the hall.

* * *

Margaret looks at her watch and discovers it's a little after ten o'clock. She quickly goes to the bathroom, changes into her pajamas, and then calls Leo.

"McGarry," he answers, after only one ring.

"Hey Leo," she says, as she sits down on the edge of her king-sized bed.

"Ya have a good time?"

"Yeah, there were a couple of new young singers there tonight and they were very good," she says into the phone as she plays with the edge of the bedspread.

"I'm glad you had a good time. How did the shopping go today?"

"Oh," getting a little excited as she remembers her adventure. "I got some great deals. I saved you a lot of money."

Leo laughs, "I bet you did."

"They were having a ton of sales down here. I bought a lot of stuff, but I'll tell you right now, that I didn't put it all on your card."

"Margaret, I thought..."

"And I did, I bought myself a really nice present for my birthday, but it was on sale, so I don't want to hear that I didn't spend enough."

"Okay. What did ya get Mallory?"

"Well, she's going to be so excited. One of the things I got her is a pair of Stretchers flip flops that she wanted the other day when we went shopping, but they didn't have her size. They are the cutest things. They're hot pink and at least three inches thick"

"Why doesn't she just get a pair of stilts," he smirks.

"Leo, she just wants to be a little bit taller. She's always saying that I dwarf her," Margaret explains to him.

"I know the feeling," Leo mutters under his breath. Margaret's a good three inches taller than he is, and when she wears high heels, she's even taller. It doesn't bother him at all really; he's used to being shorter than most people. He just hopes that it doesn't matter to her.

"I'm sorry Leo; I didn't understand what you just said."

"Nothing, I was just talking back to the guy on CNN," he fabricates.

"Leo, we've been though this... several times before, they can't hear you, remember?"

"Yeah, so what else did ya buy?"

Margaret goes though her list of things she bought today, and Leo intently listens, while he's lying on his bed. He can't believe how much he's missed the little things like sharing something as mundane as shopping. He catches himself almost falling to sleep listening to her soothing voice. Leo is unable to stifle his yawn.

"Leo," she pauses as she yawns, too. "It's late and we're both tired. We should both get to bed."

"Yeah, I think you're right," he yawns again. "Margaret, l umm... need to... tell ya something. I... just want to thank you for all that you've done for me these past fourteen years."

"You're welcome, but Leo, you don't need to do that, I love... working for you," her face flushes at the use of the word 'love'.

Leo lays his head back on his pillow. He thought there for a second she was going to tell him that she loved him. He inwardly sighs, 'maybe someday.' "Night, Margaret."

"Night, Leo." She lies down and almost immediately falls asleep, thinking about Leo.

* * *

Margaret wakes Tuesday morning at the sound of the alarm, rolls over and turns it off. She rolls back over; stretches and her first thoughts of the day are of Leo. She peacefully lies there thinking about the conversations they've shared over the past couple of days. She hopes that it's not just her imagination that things are changing between them.

Margaret is so content with her thoughts and fantasies that she closes her eyes and slips back into a light slumber. The next time she opens her eyes, she realizes that she's overslept. A flash of a dream causes her to pause on the edge of the bed, but she quickly remembers that she's supposed to meet Lynette and some others for breakfast, so she jumps up out of bed and quickly gets ready.

They are already seated by the time Margaret reaches the restaurant. It's a good thing that it's located in the hotel, or she would have never made it in time. "Good morning, sorry I'm late," she says, taking her seat and looking around the table.

"You're fine," Lynette tells hers, handing her a menu. "We just got seated." Lynette says, as she leans over, "Well, did you check in yet this morning?" She whispers into Margaret's ear.

Margaret gives her a pointed look. "No, and lets change the subject."

"Okay," her friend laughs.

Margaret is studying the menu when one of the ladies at the table, that she doesn't know, gets a phone call. She gets up, excuses herself and walks away from the table.

"Who's that?" Margaret asks.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have introduced you."

"Well, if you hadn't been so intent on teasing me you might have remembered," Margaret quips.

"Touché. She's Susan White, one of the co-chairs this year for the event," Lynette explains.

"Oh, I didn't realize I would be breakfasting with someone important," Margaret says, as she straightens her clothes a little. She really hadn't been paying too close attention to how she looked, since she had been running late this morning.

"Margaret, how can you refer to her as important when you work right next door to the President?" Lynette shakes her head at her friend.

Margaret is about to comment, but Susan comes back to the table. "Great, just great," she says mockingly as she takes her seat.

"Susan, is something wrong?" Lynette asks the older lady.

"Yeah, I'll say," she huffs. "We just lost our speaker for Saturday night's Closing Dinner Ceremonies," she says, blowing imagery bangs off her forehead. "Does anyone here know of anyone of stature that we could get on short notice for Saturday night?"

"I know someone who works for a very important person, who used to make his living giving lectures," Lynette says, looking over at Margaret.

"Who?" Most of the table's occupants ask in unison.

"Margaret," Lynette says, pointing at her friend, "works for the Chief of Staff."

"Chief of Staff of what?" Susan asks.

"Lynette," Margaret huffs, sinking lower in her chair. She usually doesn't tell people at these events whom she actually works for. They just know that she works in the White House. She has always downplayed her role there.

"Chief of Staff to the President of the United States," Lynette boasts.

"You mean Leo McGarry?" Susan says in a shocked voice.

"Yes," Lynette answers, avoiding making eye contact with Margaret, whom she assumes is about to kill her.

"Oh, he's so good looking," one of the ladies at the table, mentions.

"Oh, yes," others agree in unison.

"Do you really think he would do it?" Susan asks Margaret.

"I don't know. He's really busy... and well... I don't know if he can get away on such short notice," Margaret blushes. She has to agree with the rest of the ladies sitting at the table; her boss is very handsome.

"Will you ask him? Please." Susan says, leaning closer towards Margaret. "It would mean so much if we could have someone like him here," she adds with a smile.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask. But no promises," she tells them.

"Great, then it's settled. I'll call Carol and let her know that we might be able to get Leo McGarry," she says, as she pulls out her cell phone.

"Lynette, what have you done? I just know Leo's going to hate this," she informs her friend.

"Well, maybe you need to sweet talk him into it. After all, he did pay for your Presidential Suite, didn't he?" Lynette smirks.

"Lynette, why don't you say that I little louder, cause I don't think the older couple clear across the room heard you," she huffs.

"What did I say?" She laughs.

"Well, if this goes badly, I'm blaming you," she says. Margaret looks around at the table and discovers that they are all staring at her.

"Well, are you going to call?" Susan asks, holding her hand over the receiver of her cell phone.

Margaret looks at her watch, "He's got Senior Staff right now, I'll call during my first break this morning," she tells them.

"Okay, but please don't forget and get back with me as soon as you know something," she adds, as she writes down her cell phone number for Margaret to return her call, before going back to her conversation on her cell phone.

Margaret shoots Lynette a look, "I won't forget," she replies as she takes the offered piece of paper with Susan's phone number on it.

TBC in Part 4

Feedback is greatly appreciated!


	4. Part 4

Part 4

See disclaimers in Part 1.

Leo is sitting on the couch in his office dictating letters to Sarah. They have been working for the past half an hour or so. Leo has been fidgety the whole time, because his hip is giving him some trouble on this hot and humid July morning. The White House air conditioner doesn't seem to be keeping up with the demand. Leo already has his jacket off, and his sleeves are rolled up.

"Copy that to Josh," Leo instructs Sarah as he gets up from the couch. His hip catches causing him to groan out in pain and sits heavily back down to the couch.

"Mr. McGarry, are you okay?" Sarah asks as she jumps up from her chair, causing her steno pad to go flying off her lap, knocking over Leo's coffee cup on the table in front of the couch. The almost full cup of coffee spills over her tablet.

"I'm fine," Leo says through clenched teeth as he flexes his right leg, trying to get his hip to click again to stop the pain. It's been even more uncomfortable since the doctor manipulated it yesterday during his examination.

"Should I call someone?" She asks with concern.

"Look..." he angrily starts, but calms down quickly realizing that Sarah is only trying to help. "There's no need to get anyone. It'll just take a second or two to get it to stop," he comments as he rubs his hip and tries to concentrate on something else. "Why don't ya clean up that mess, before the coffee hits the floor," he says, pointing at the coffee table.

"Damnit," she blurts out, as she notices for the first time that she's spilled Leo's coffee. She hurries to Margaret's area, gets some napkins and rushes back to clean up the spill.

"Ya know... you're lucky Margaret didn't hear you say that. Cause she's been scolding me lately for cussing here at work," he smirks. His hip has finally clicked back into place and the pain is subsiding.

"Oh no, what did I say? I'm so sorry. I didn't..." She looks like she might cry.

"Sarah, it's fine. I was just teasing you," he quickly points out. "I'm sorry it's just that well... Margaret and I sorta like to tease each other, and I guess I just transferred that to you since she's gone this week," he explains.

"Margaret scolds you for cussing?" She smiles. She has heard stories about Margaret and her rules that she makes Leo follow.

"Margaret scolds me on a daily basis for one thing or another," he laughs. "Her favorite thing right now is to nag me about my cussing. Before that it was my lack of eating and before that it was that I wasn't eating right and before that..." he slightly looks up, tying to remember what she had been on him about before the not eating right kick.

"I think the eating thing is still an issue, because she left me instructions to make sure you eat and a list of foods that you like," she divulges, with a soft smile.

"Yeah that sounds like her," he grins, as he continues to flex his leg.

"But, she didn't mention that I should scold you, so I won't," she replies. She's starting to feel a lot less nervous about being around him. He's been really nice to her and enjoys working for him.

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that," he says, as he attempts to stand. This time his hip cooperates and he makes it up with no problem. He still has some pain, but the joint is no longer stuck.

"That appointment you had yesterday," she mentions, getting braver with him. "A doctor's office called, right after you left yesterday, to confirm your appointment. Was it about that?" She asks, pointing towards his hip.

"Yeah," he shyly admits. He might as well get use to telling people, cause soon everyone will know.

"Is it going to be... okay?" She asks with a concerned voice.

"Yeah, it's something they can fix," he discloses. "And please don't say anything to Margaret if you talk to her. Knowing her, she'd get on a plane and come right back and give me a good scolding." Leo isn't sure when he's going to tell her, but he's not going to tell her while she's there at the conference. He wants her to enjoy her time away from this place.

"I won't," she bobs her head. "Margaret didn't leave any instructions about ratting you out," she smiles, as she cleans up the last of the spill and then picks up the soggy steno pad, "I'll have these letters done soon."

"No rush and thanks," he flashes her one of his best impish grins.

"You're welcome, Mr. McGarry."

"Leo," he reminds her, as he makes his way toward his desk.

"Leo," she softly says, as she turns to go finish her work.

Leo watches Sarah leave his office and that's when it dawns on him why he's been so different with Sarah than the other temps he's had in the past. She reminds him of Margaret when she first came to work for him when he was Labor Secretary. Sarah's a little younger he guesses, but she still has a lot of the same qualities, not to mention the red hair, too. He decides that she might be very helpful in his and Josh's office after he has the surgery. He makes a mental note to say something to Margaret about it.

* * *

Around ten o'clock, Margaret gets her first break of the morning. She grabs her cell phone from her purse and looks for some privacy. She finds an empty recess in the hallway and calls her boss. After several rings, Leo picks up the phone.

"Yeah, McGarry," he finally answers. He had been sitting in his wing back chair in front of the window, and it took him a while to get to the phone.

"Leo, it's me," she quickly responds. "Why are you answering your phone? Where's Sarah?"

"Hey there," he says happily into the phone. "Sarah's off making some copies."

"Oh."

"Are ya checking to see if I had breakfast? Cause if ya are, there's no reason to, cause Sarah is very efficient, almost like someone left her some very detailed instructions to follow," Leo smirks, knowing that Margaret will have a comment.

"Very funny, Leo. And no I wasn't calling to see if you had breakfast. I was umm... calling to umm... well you see... they're in a bit of a spot here, and I was wondering if maybe you could help us out?" Margaret asks, biting her lip.

"What do ya need Margaret," he asks, sitting down in his chair hoping that it's him she needs.

'You,' she thinks to herself before answering back. "Well, the keynote speaker for the dinner Saturday night canceled and well... somehow they found out that I work for you and they were wondering if you were available?" She stiffens, waiting for his outburst.

"You mean, me, come out there and give a speech?"

"Yeah," she answers back.

"I don't know, Margaret. What would I say to a room full of women?" He quickly pictures, in his head, hundreds of ladies staring at him.

"Leo, you've given several lectures to women's groups before," she quickly reminds him.

"Yeah, but that was years ago. I just don't know, Margaret," he says, thinking that he'd love to spend time with Margaret, but isn't sure he wants to give a speech. He's not been in the best frame of mind, lately. "Nah, I think I'm gonna pass," he finally decides.

"Leo, why don't you take the day and think about it, and call me later tonight. I'll see if they can wait until later today for your answer. I bet they will, because they were crazy at the idea of having you come here. It seems you have a rather huge fan club here," she gently laughs into the phone. "The word handsome was mentioned more than once when your name came up," she adds with a smile.

"Margaret, stop trying to butter me up," he laughs as he shakes his head at the thought that women find him attractive.

"Leo, I'm not, they were all starry-eyed over you," she informs him, with a soft laugh.

"Right, and when was this discussed? Last night after happy hour," he sarcastically suggests.

"No, over breakfast this morning," Margaret looks at her watch. "Look, you think about it. I need to get back. Call me later with your answer, Okay?"

"Okay, but I still don't think I can come out there," he tells her.

"Oh, Okay, bye," she says sadly.

"Bye," he says, and then he hangs up the phone. He would love to call her right back and tell her yes, but he's not sure that he's up to giving a speech. He doesn't get a chance to give it any more thought, because Josh walks into his office.

"What'd ya need?" He says gruffly.

"Ah... I just needed to run a few things by you. Do you have a couple of seconds?" Josh asks, as he plops down in the chair in front of Leo's desk.

"Yeah, I've got nothing but time," Leo tells him.

* * *

Later on that day, Leo is heading to Josh's office to give him the information that he was looking for earlier in the day. He stops at the coffee pot to get a refill and overhears some young interns talking, around the corner.

"Yeah, that's what happens when you get too old and overstay your welcome. They just don't need his old way of thinking around here," the tall dark haired intern tells the other.

"Yeah, I agree. The President was right to reduce his duties. 'His' way of thinking is way too Republican for me," he agrees with his friend.

"Josh should have been his man this whole second term," the dark haired intern adds.

Leo's heard enough; he quickly turns, leaves his cup by the pot and heads off down the hall back towards his office.

Josh is coming out of his office and overhears and sees the whole scene unfold. He walks up to the young interns, "You two could learn a lot from Leo McGarry. It's too bad you're not going to get the chance."

"Yeah, we heard he's on his way out," the tall one speaks up.

"No, he's not. But you two are. You're both fired. Don't let the door hit your asses on the way out," Josh angrily informs them and then turns to follow Leo.

Josh catches up with Leo just in time to see his shoulders fall, as he enters his office and closes his door. Josh notices for the first time how Leo's hand-tailored suit just hangs on him. He walks up to the door, raises his hand to knock, but changes his mind and slowly walks away. He doesn't know what to say to his mentor to make it better, right now.

* * *

Leo is sitting behind his desk, trying to stay busy, when there's a knock on his door.

"Mr. McGarry," Sarah says, slowly peeking her head in his office.

"Leo," he reminds her.

"Sorry," she replies, walking toward him. When she gets closer, she's a little shocked at the weariness showing in his face. "Leo, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he replies, glancing at his watch and then back at her. "Why don't you go home for the day?"

"Are you sure there isn't something I should be working on? I don't want to get in trouble with Margaret when she gets back."

"No, you're fine. You've just umm... sorta hit us during a... lull."

"Okay, well you have a good evening. See you in the morning," she says, heading for the door.

"Thanks. You too," he replies.

* * *

It's late Tuesday night, and Leo is still brooding in his office, with the lights low. He's been quietly sitting in his chair and staring out his window for the past hour. He knows he should just give up and go home, but it's even quieter there in his big depressing hotel room.

This has been one of the longest days that he can remember. He's tried to keep busy, but the President is having the staff bypass him now, and go directly to him or Josh. Leo knows that they should end this battle of wills, but he's not sure how or even if he's ready to yet.

The peace summit at Camp David had been a joke. Nothing had been resolved. Leo had been right about dealing with the Chairman Farad, and Jed had been right about not bombing that apartment in Gaza, because it turned out they weren't the people behind the car bombing. So both men had been right and wrong, but neither of them is ready to admit it or try to resolve things between them.

Josh is handling most of Leo's duties. Now he knows how Josh felt when he was cut out of the loop over the congressman issue last year, but at least Josh had Donna there for him. His Margaret is off in Tennessee having a great time, at least she sounds like it on the phone. Maybe he should go out there and give that lecture on Saturday night. "I might as well, because I'm sure as hell not very productive around the West Wing anymore," he mutters out loud.

He lays his head back on his chair and closes his eyes. Before he knows it, he's asleep. He dreams of Margaret and after a few minutes, he jolts awake, "Margaret," he calls, before he remembers that she's gone. He shakes his head and looks at his watch as he digs out his cell phone and calls Margaret.

Margaret grabs her cell phone and sees the very familiar number. "Hello, Leo," she yells over the surrounding noise and into her phone.

"Margaret, was that an elephant I just heard?" He asks, with a puzzled look on his face that would have bought a smile to Margaret's lips if she could have seen it.

"Yes, Leo. We walked over to Rain Forest Café. They have all kinds of exotic animals here," she laughs into the phone.

"Real ones?" He asks, while thinking to himself why would people want to eat around smelly animals.

"No, they're fake, but they sure do look and sound real. They even move," she informs him, as she excuses herself from her friends, gets up from the table and heads for the door.

"Did you say they even moo? They have cows in the Rain Forest?" He questions in an annoyed voice.

"No, I said they even move. Leo, hang on just a sec, I'm going outside so we can hear each other better." She tells him as she makes her way though the crowd. Just as she hits the door, the Rain Forest Café famous fake thunderstorm hits.

"Margaret, was that thunder I just heard, you better not go outside with a cell phone in you hand if it's storming," Leo says, concern showing in his voice.

"Leo, that's just the restaurant. There's a simulated thunderstorm every half an hour or so," she laughs at his apprehension. 'He's getting as bad as me, in his worrying about me', she thinks to herself.

"Oh, okay," he breathes into the phone.

"Leo, did you call for a reason?" She's sorta surprised that he called her again today. She knows she told him to if he changed his mind, but she didn't really think he would.

In the past when she has been at these conferences, he's never called, unless it was work related, and she knows that Leo hasn't had much to do for the past month. When she gets back, she's gonna sit him down and talk to him about what's been going on between him and the President. She's about ready to go give the President a piece of her mind, but she knows that Leo will kill her if she does that.

"Ah, yeah. Well... I really don't need anything. Umm... I just callin' to see if they are still in need of a keynote speaker for that Saturday night thing," he finally mangers to get out. He's now pacing back and forth behind desk. "I've umm... changed my mind." He hopes that they still need a speaker, cause he needs to get the hell out of here.

"I'm not sure, Leo. I already told them that you didn't think you could make it. Let me quickly call the co-chairperson of the event, and I'll get right back to you."

"Okay, well if they do, I think I'll come out there tomorrow," he informs her as continues to pace.

"Really? You do realize the event isn't until Saturday night?" She asks him with a perplexed look on her face.

"Yeah, I know that, but I think I need to get away from here for awhile," he confesses.

"I thought Nashville wasn't an exciting enough place for you," she teases, trying ease his mind.

"Well, it is now that you're there," he alleges with a smile, that Margaret doesn't get the benefit of seeing. "Cause it sounds like you're having a great time."

"Leo, there's really a lot to do here," she beams. I'm sure you're find something to occupy your time," and then she adds under her breath, 'like with me.'

"I imagine... I will," he agrees, hoping that it will be her that takes up his time.

"Leo, I should get off of here and find out if they still need a speaker."

"Yeah."

"I'll call and let you know either way. Are you at work or your hotel?" She already knows the answer, she just wants to make him admit it and then give him a hard time about it.

"Work," he cringes, ready for some abuse for still being at work. He looks at his watch and discovers that it's nine o'clock. It's only eight in Nashville, maybe Margaret will forget about the time difference.

"Leo, its nine o'clock in DC" she starts her lecture, after looking at her watch and mentally adjusting for the time difference. "I thought you said you were going to leave early tonight," thinking back to their last conversation in the late afternoon when he called her wanting to know where some file was.

"Look... are ya gonna find out if they need me or are you going to harangue me about my work habits?" Leo implores in a tired voice. His annoyance with all that is going on with the President right now is starting to show.

Margaret frowns at the almost begging quality of his voice. 'He needs me', she thinks to herself. "I'm going to call and find out now. Why don't you go home and I'll call you in your hotel room."

"Okay, I can take a hint. I'm leaving," he replies, stopping his pacing and sitting down in his chair. He picks up a couple of things off his desk and shoves them into his briefcase.

"Really?"

"Yeah, as soon as I hang up, I'm outa here," he breathes into the phone, as he closes his briefcase.

"Okay, I'll call as soon as I find out something. Leo..." She pauses, deciding whether she should suggest what's she's thinking.

"Yeah?"

"I was umm... just thinking that... well even if they don't need a speaker... umm... maybe you could still come out here... for like a vacation. You said you needed to get away," Margaret blushes.

Leo grins at Margaret's forwardness. 'Maybe she is interested in me', he thinks to himself. "Ya know... that doesn't sound like too bad of an idea. Maybe I will," he softly offers.

"Great, well let me find out and I'll call you back. Bye." She can't believe he's actually thinking about coming out here even if they don't need a speaker for Saturday night.

"Thanks," he says, and then hangs up the phone. He leans back in his chair and close his eyes. He sits there for a couple of seconds, then grabs his bag and heads for his service car.

* * *

Leo drags himself though the hotel lobby and then up to his room. He heads straight for his couch and plops down. He is totally drained. This whole ordeal with the President is getting to be a bit too much for him. It's worse than most crises they have faced together over the past six years. He's been sitting there for several minutes reflecting and wondering what to do when his cell phone rings.

"Hello, Margaret," he says, after seeing that it's her cell phone number.

"Hey, Leo. You're in luck," she happily says into the phone. Actually, she's the one who feels fortunate; she was really hoping that Leo would get to come to Nashville.

"They still need a speaker and they would love to have you," Margaret is standing outside the mall entrance to the Rainforest.

"Good," Leo says, feeling some relief, knowing he doesn't have to go to the White House for a few days.

"Leo, I've already made your plane reservations using your personal credit card; you have to file it on your travel voucher to get your money back. But, I can take care of all that paperwork for you when we get back. Your flight leaves at noon and remember you have to be there two hours before to get thought security. It's not like flying on Air Force One. Just use the E-Ticket check-in counter," she informs him.

"Did you book me First-class?" Leo asks, then cringes waiting for his 'you spend too much money' lecture. He loves to rile her up.

"Yes, I figured it was the least I could do since you agreed to come out here. Besides, after Monday's shopping adventure, I'm getting used to spending your money," she laughs into the phone, as she sits down on a concrete bench in the mall.

Leo laughs, "Good Girl." He smiles and hopes that she has more opportunities to spend his money.

"Leo, what have I told you about saying that?" She tries to hide the laughter in her voice.

"I know, but I couldn't resist. Sorry," Leo breathes softly into the phone. He knows that she secretly likes it when he calls her that; just by the way she acts, after he says it.

"Okay, you're forgiven," she runs a hand across her forehead, moving her hair out of her eyes. "Leo, you'll need Debbie to cut you some orders. I can't do that from here."

"Nah, I'm just going to take leave and come out there. It's not going to be an official TDY," he informs her, as he gets up and goes to his bedroom. He grabs his suit and smaller carryon bags from his closet and lays them on his bed.

"Leo, this is considered a work related function, you shouldn't..." Margaret doesn't get a chance to finish, cause Leo interrupts her.

"Margaret, I don't want to mess with havin'... I'm just gonna go into work tomorrow morning, clear what's left of my negligible schedule, put in my leave slip and then catch my plane." 'And the hell with the rest,' he adds in his head.

"Okay, do you want me to meet you at the airport?" She asks in a soft voice; it kills her that he thinks so little of his work anymore.

"No, I'll just catch a cab to the hotel," he says, as he starts to go though his drawers and throw things into his suitcase for his trip.

"Leo, what are you doing?" She asks, hearing commotion and heavier breathing on the other end of the phone.

"I'm packing," he lightly huffs into the phone.

"Are you sure you remember how?" She snickers into the phone. She can just picture him running around, throwing things into his bag, and not taking the time to fold things nicely like she does for him.

"Very funny, I take back my good girl comment," he smirks, wading up his undershirts and shoving them into his smaller carryon.

"Well, it's been a while since you packed your own bags, don't forget to pack enough... umm... stuff. You're going to be here four nights and five days." She careful counts on her fingers, making sure she's correct.

"Margaret I can count," he opens up the next drawer and grabs some boxers, not bothering to count them and then throws them in on top of his now wrinkled undershirts.

"Well, just make sure you add some extra things, cause you never know what might happen," she blushes, thinking about his boxers.

"Margaret," he growls, shaking his head at her perfect timing. He knows exactly what items she's referring to. "I'm not a child," he says, as he walks back over to the drawer and grabs a couple more boxers.

"Well, you don't want to run out," she says, secretly hoping he does so that she would have a good reason to give him the new boxers she bought on impulse at the mall yesterday. She still can't believe she did it, but she just couldn't pass them up. Maybe she can give them to Mallory and she can give them to her father.

"Look, I'm going to hang up now and finish my packing. I know how taxing it can be, cause my assistant always complains when she has to pack for me." He grins, thinking about the look on her face that she is probably making now. He loves all the faces she makes at him.

"I don't complain," she argues back, scrunching up her face.

"You do too," he reiterates.

"Don't," she softly hisses back.

"Margaret, now who's acting like a child?" He laughs, as walks over to his closet, to grab some shoes, suits and dress shirts. He wonders if he'll need any causal clothes too. He'd love to take Margaret out somewhere nice to eat and maybe even go dancing, but he's not sure what there is there besides country music places to dance. He decides that he'll need to get back on the dreadful 'Internet' and see what he can find for them to do.

"Well, you started it," she banters back, smiling.

"Margaret," he grumbles, still trying to decide what suits to take with him. He grabs his new light gray double-breasted pinstripe suit and a lavender shirt and then lays them on the bed. He assumes that this is one of Margaret's favorite suits that he has, because she always comments on it when he wears it. Then he adds a couple of more suits to the growing pile on the bed. He walks back to the closet and gets some more causal clothes and lays them on the bed too.

"What did I say?" She laughs back, loving this far too rare enjoyable moment with Leo. He needs to laugh more often. She thinks about how sexy he looks when he grins and laughs.

"I think you need to go back to the hotel and go to bed, cause you are way too punchy," he says, heading into the bathroom to pack his toiletry bag. He glances at the tub and gets an image of Margaret in her sunken one. He gasps at the image in his head and portions of his body start to react to the image in his head.

"Leo, are you okay?" Margaret asks, standing up without really thinking about what she was doing.

"Umm... yeah, I..." Leo stammers. "I just startled myself." He needs to calm down, literally.

"Oh, okay," she breathes a sigh of relief, as she sits back down on the hard bench. She can't help but think he's not telling her the truth, but she drops it. "Well, I should let you finish your packing. I need to get back to my friends in the restaurant. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Margaret, you're still at the restaurant. It's late. Didn't you say you walked there? You are calling a cab to go back to the hotel," he states, more like a statement than a question.

"Leo, it's not very far at all. We just cut though this adjacent parking lot to the hotel, and we were here in no time at all." She's going to need a nice walk after all the food she's eaten tonight.

"Is it safe there?" He stops moving and waits for her answer.

"Safer than walking in DC, besides there are six of us." She shakes her head at him. He's really been so worried about her lately, it makes her think that maybe he does have feelings for her.

"Okay," he walks out of the bathroom, and goes over to his closet. He just remembered that he didn't pack any ties for his suits.

"Okay, well... I'll see you tomorrow," she says again, standing up and heading back into the restaurant.

"Oh wait, am I staying at the same hotel as you?" He grabs the matching tie for his gray suit and some other ties, too.

"Ah... yeah, call me when you get here and I'll meet you in the lobby," verbally back pedaling while she figures out how to tell him where he's staying.

"Margaret, I can check into a hotel by myself," he shakes his head. "I used to do it all the time on lecture circuit."

"I know you can, but..." she splutters, as she does an about face and walks back outside. "There was that one time you went to the wrong hotel."

"I still say that was my assistant's fault. I know she told me the wrong hotel name," he grins, remembering how flustered Margaret was on the phone that time.

"I remember distinctly telling you which hotel you were staying at, you just misheard," she argues, softly laughing. "Just humor me and call when you get to the airport, then I'll meet you in the lobby."

"Margaret you worry too much. I'll see ya tomorrow. Night," he says closing his cell phone and throwing it on the bed and making a mental note to pack the phone charger.

* * *

Margaret flips her cell phone shut and stares at it. What's she going to do now, she thinks to herself. When she had tried to make a reservation for Leo at the hotel she's staying at; they were sold out, because they have four separate conventions going on this week. She first thought about switching to another hotel, so that they could both be at the same hotel, but then she thought that would appear odd to Leo. Then it dawned on her that she has the huge two-bedroom suite. All they would have to do is share a living area. They're adult enough to be able to do that she thought. But, when it came to telling him on the phone, she just couldn't do it.

Margaret thinks about calling him back, but then she's afraid he'll make his own hotel reservation somewhere else. She's hoping that by them sharing a room, she'll finally be able to get a chance to talk to him.

Margaret heads back to her friends when she gets a quick thought. The master bedroom should be Leo's, since he's paying the bill. She decides that she'll move all of her things into the other bedroom and bathroom as soon as she gets back to the hotel tonight.

* * *

Leo wakes up at his normal time on Wednesday morning, but just lies in bed for a few minutes. He thinks about trying to call Margaret, but decides against it, since he will see her this afternoon. He calls the service and tells them to inform his driver to pick him up about an hour later than usual. He forgoes his normal routine of turning on CNN while still in bed, and just gets up and heads for the shower. Afterwards, he gets dressed in tan Dockers, a matching button down stripped shirt with no tie and a sport coat.

Leo finishes packing the last of his toiletries and then calls for a bellhop to come get his luggage and take it downstairs. Next he calls Sarah.

"Leo McGarry's office," she says, in a very cheery voice.

"Morning Sarah, It's me," he smiles at how much she sounds like a young Margaret.

"Good Morning, Mr. McGarry, umm... I mean Leo," she splutters. "I was starting to get worried about you."

"Did Margaret leave instructions on that, too?" He laughs.

"No, I guess I must have picked that on up on my own," she softly says. She's really grown to respect and care for him in such a short time. She hopes that someday, she'll get a boss just like him.

"You're a fast learner, but I'm not as helpless as Margaret makes me out to be," he smirks.

"She just cares about you and wants to make sure you're taken care of while she's gone," Sarah says, as she wonders if Margaret could possibly love Leo; who could blame her if she did. It's so obvious that they care for each other, but she does wonder if its something more.

"Yeah, I know. She's been doing it for years now. I'd be lost without her," he softly says.

"Well, at least that's what she says," Sarah laughs.

"Yeah, I just bet she did, too," he quickly agrees. "Hey, I just called to let ya know that I'm coming in late today and then I'm leaving at ten to go to Nashville. I won't be in the office for the rest of the week."

"Okay," she says sighs. "I guess I should go back to the pool," she sadly says.

"No, I don't want ya to go back to the pool. I need you there at the office taking care of it while I'm gone, and you can help Josh, too. And when I get back, I'm callin' the pool and having you permanently assigned to the West Wing. We need hard working and intelligent people like you."

"Oh, thank you Mr. McGarry," she excitedly says.

"Leo," he reminds her with a laugh.

"Leo thanks. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't, Kiddo. I'll see ya when I get in, which won't be until eight thirty or nine. I'm gonna have breakfast at my hotel first before I come in this morning."

"Ok, I'll see you then," she smiles at what he just called her. If it had been everyone else, she would have been pissed. But, it seemed perfectly fine for Leo to call her that. "Oh wait," she says in a rush. "I almost forgot. Josh was just in here a few minutes ago, looking for you. He seemed sorta... well... upset or panicked."

"Okay, thanks. He must still be having problems with that bill. I'll go see him before I leave, I have some stuff that might help him and I need to tell him that I'll be gone this week, too."

"Do you want me to call Josh and let him know that you're running late this morning?" She asks.

"Yeah and tell him to go ahead and have Senior Staff without me," he adds.

"Okay, I'll see you when you get here." Sarah says as she thinks to herself, 'Mmm, Nashville? I wonder why he's going there? I wonder if he knows anyone there?' She smirks to herself as she gets back to work.

"Bye," he says, and then hangs up the phone. The bellhop arrives as soon as he's off the phone. Leo gives him a generous tip and then leaves to go downstairs to have breakfast.

The Maitre'd asks him if his daughter will be joining him this morning. He tells him no and follows him to a table. He orders breakfast and works the New York Times crossword puzzle while he waits for his food to arrive. After his finishes his breakfast, he is still working on his puzzle when a bellhop comes to tell him that his car is waiting for him and that he's already loaded his bags for him. Leo generously tips the bellhop and heads for his service car. Once he gets in the car, he informs his driver that he needs to leave for the airport at ten.

Leo finally arrives at the White House, only an hour later than normal. He's already missed Senior Staff. But he's not worried about that, cause he had Sarah tell Josh to go ahead and have it without him, this morning. It's not that he's been active in them anyway lately, he's mostly just been sitting back and letting the others run the show. He's given up trying to get things back to normal, every since they first got back from Camp David and the President burst in on Senior Staff and called everyone, except Leo, into his office for a meeting.

Leo goes to his office, sits down at his desk and starts looking through his files for a leave slip. He doesn't turn on any of the TV's in his office. He finally finds where Margaret has them hidden, and fills out one for today and the rest of the week. He walks over to Debbie's office and leaves it on her desk.

Next he heads over to Josh's office to let him know that he won't be here the rest of the week, and that he's now officially in charge. Josh is staring at his TV when Leo enters his office, "Hey, Josh."

"Leo," he says, jerking his head away from the TV and then quickly grabbing the remote and turning it off. "What's the name of the hotel that Margaret's staying at in Nashville?" Josh is pretty sure that he already knows the answer, but he wants to make sure before he tells Leo what has happened.

"The Gaylord Hotel. Why?" Leo asks, noting the look of shear panic in Josh's eyes and face. Leo starts to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Have you talked with Margaret this morning?" Josh hopes that Leo has and that this is not a Gaza like occurrence for Leo.

"No, I haven't," he has a puzzled look on his face and a nervous lump suddenly appears in his throat.

"Leo, sit down," he tells his long time mentor and surrogate father as he stands and moves towards him.

"Josh, what the hell is going on?" Leo's heart is starting to beat faster and he's starting to feel a little lightheaded.

"Leo, there was a... car bombing in one of the Gaylord hotel parking lots last night. At least one person is dead and several others, who were in the parking lot, were injured."

Leo's legs buckle, Josh reaches him just in time, grabbing a hold of him and helping him into a chair. "Margaret," he cries out. "Was she...?"

"Leo, they're not releasing any of the names of those involved until all of the family members have been notified. I've been trying to call Margaret on her cell phone, since I first saw this on the news this morning. She must have it turned off." Josh is standing by Leo's side with a comforting hand resting on his shoulder.

"Or... she isn't able to answer it," Leo painfully breathes out as he blinks back the tears in his eyes.

"Leo, we don't know anything right now. There are hundreds of people staying at that hotel. The chances of her being one of the..."

Leo doesn't let him finish, "Josh, I talked with her late last night... she was out with some friends at a restaurant, she said something about cutting though a parking lot to get back to the...hotel," Leo manages to get out.

"Leo, does she normally have her cell phone turned off?" Josh moves to the front of his desk and leans against it.

Leo slowly and distressingly shakes his head, "She normally calls me every morning. She's been keeping close tabs on me since... well since all this crap started after Gaza." Leo looks up into Josh's face. "I... need her," he admits, lowering his eyes trying to keep his tears from falling.

"Leo, it's going to be okay. I'm going to find out what's going on, okay?" He reaches out and puts a comforting hand on Leo's leg that is shaking.

"I... need to go to my office," Leo says, as he stands and turns quickly to leave. He grabs his cell phone from his coat pocket, flips it open and calls her. He gets the dreaded message: '_This person's cell phone is off'_ message; he quickly leaves a panicked message for her to call him, and then clicks his cell phone shut.

"Leo, did you need something?" Josh softly asks, having followed Leo into the hallway.

"Huh," Leo turns around.

"You came to see me," Josh says.

"Ah... yeah umm... I'm taking leave for the rest of the week," he mumbles.

"Leo, are you sick?" Josh just now notices Leo's casual attire.

Leo shakes his head and walks towards his office. He needs to get away from everyone; cause he's not sure how much longer he can stay in control of his emotions.

TBC in Part 5

Feedback is greatly appreciated! Please let me know what you think!!

Thanks!!!!

Bev (adoreleo): 

Lynn (leosimpishgrin): 


	5. Part 5

Part 5

See disclaimers in Part 1.

Leo finally makes it back to his office and falls into the chair by his couch. He sits there for several minutes, before trying Margaret's cell phone number again. He looks at his watch and its now nine o'clock. He jumps when his cell phone rings. He flips it open, not even checking to see who is calling, "Hello," he says, in a panic.

"Leo, what's wrong?" Margaret's panicked voice comes in loud and clear.

"Margaret, just where the hell have you been?" He agitatedly shouts back into the phone.

"What do you mean?" She nervously asks. She has no idea why he's yelling at her, but can tell by the sound of his voice that he's scared.

"Josh and I have been trying to get a hold of you all morning. Are you okay?" He impatiently waits for her answer.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" She's still unsure why he's so upset.

"Damnit Margaret, there was a car bombing there and I thought..." He can't even say the words.

'Oh my God,' Margaret thinks to herself. She realizes that Leo thought she was either killed or injured. "Leo, the car exploded in the overflow lot; they think it was a drug deal that went bad."

"But Josh said the news..."

"Oh Leo, I'm sorry. I never even gave it a second thought, because they came right out and said this morning that it wasn't terrorism and that the only people injured were from a gang. I'm sorry I worried you," she cries into the phone.

"I'm just glad... you're okay," he breathes with a heavy gasp into the phone, while leaning forward in his chair and resting his head in his hand. "Margaret, I'm sorry I yelled. It's just that..."

"No Leo, I'm the one who's sorry. I had my phone off because I had that Sexual Harassment Seminar this morning and they asked us to turn our phones off. This guy was really adamant about it. You wouldn't believe some of the cases of harassment they told us about."

"Yeah, I would," Leo sighs heavily, while thinking that it's a good thing that Margaret can't read his mind or she would be filing a sexual harassment suit against him right now, cause all he wants to do is take her in his arms and kiss her all over. He's so relieved that she's okay.

"I was gong to call and check... on you this morning and make sure you had everything ready for your trip out here, but I decided not to bother you. Leo, I'm so sorry. I..." There are tears in her voice as it catches. She would never intentionally hurt or worry Leo.

"No Margaret, don't worry about it," he informs her. He's just so happy that she's okay. He also realizes now that what he's been feeling is very real. He was so upset when he thought Margaret might have been hurt or even worse. He knows now that he has to tell her how he feels. "Look... I umm... we need to talk when I get down there," he whispers into the phone in a soft voice.

"Okay," she agrees, sniffing back a tear. The sound of his soft gravelly voice sends a chill though her body. "Call me when you get here, okay?" She pleads.

"Okay," he says, fighting to keep his emotions under control.

"Leo, I'm really sorry I..." Margaret heads for the Ladies Room, she knows she's about to break down and doesn't want a bunch of nosy people wondering what's going on with her.

"Margaret, it's okay, I'll talk with you when I get there, bye." He flips his cell phone shut and leans back in his chair.

"Bye," she says, as she makes it to the stall just in time, cause the tears are falling freely now and she can't control her sobs. She berates herself for being so stupid and not calling Leo this morning, but she just never even thought about it. The bombing seemed like such a small thing, just a drug deal that had gone bad. Why did it even make the national news?

Margaret knows that she scared Leo; she could hear it in his voice. She could tell he was fighting back tears. She wonders what he wants to talk to her about. She knows what she wants to talk to him about. She's going to tell him that she loves him. She's made up her mind. She can't go on any longer like this. She needs for him to know how she feels.

Margaret looks at her watch and realizes that it's almost time for the next seminar to begin. She straightens her clothes, leaves the stall and walks over to the bank of sinks. She splashes some water on her face, and then pats it dry. She reapplies some makeup and stares at herself in the mirror, "That will have to do," she mutters as she heads off to the next event.

* * *

After a couple of minutes of trying to get his heart to slow down, Leo gets up from his chair and walks unsteadily to his desk. He pauses for a few seconds, leaning heavily on his desk, trying to get his emotions under control. Eventually, he picks up his phone, calls Josh, and lets him know that Margaret's okay. He answers a few of Josh's questions about what happened and then tells him he needs to go. It isn't until he hangs up the phone that his tears start to fall that had been threatening ever since he first heard about the bombing in Nashville.

Leo quickly wipes his faces and wills his tears to stop, but he's unable to control his emotions. He limps over to his favorite chair; the one in front of the window with his Air Force blanket draped over it and slumps into it. He breathes a heavy sigh and thinks about what he needs to tell Margaret, as his silent tears continue to fall freely down his face.

* * *

When Debbie gets back to her desk, she finds Leo's leave slip on her desk. She stares at for the longest time. It's the first leave slip she's ever gotten from him. She quickly grabs her leave notebook and verifies that this is the first leave slip he's turned in since she started working at the White House. She suspects that it's the first leave slip he's turned in since they took over the Office. She looks up at Charlie, "Charlie, who signs Leo's leave slip?"

Charlie's head whips around to her from the computer screen he's been staring at. "Leo put in a leave slip?"

"Yeah," Debbie stares back at him with surprise showing on her face.

"Ah... I'm not sure, cause I don't think... he's ever taken leave," Charlie tells her, as he gets up and walks over to her desk to look at the paper.

"I didn't think so either," Debbie cautiously says, as she quickly looks over at the Oval Office and then back at Charlie and whispers, "I know that they're not getting along, and it's none of my business, but..."

"Debbie, this is one time that we both need to stay out of it." Charlie informs her. "I've never seen them act like this. They've had disagreements before, but its never lasted more than a day or so, this is... different."

"Well, in my opinion," Debbie looks around and then continues, "I think the President is acting like a spoiled child, I can't believe the way he's been treating Leo." She watches Charlie nod his head in agreement.

"Who's acting like a child and treating Leo badly?" The throaty voice of the First Lady inquires from behind her.

"Mrs. Bartlet, I..." Debbie verbally backpedals.

"Debbie, it's okay, trust me I've heard a lot worse," she says walking the rest of the way into the outer office of the Oval. "What's that in your hand?" She asks, with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a... leave slip for Leo, and we're not sure who signs it or whom we should give it to," Debbie informs her as she holds up the piece of paper in her hand.

"Leo's taking leave? Does it say what for?" Abbey asks in a very concerned voice. She can't remember Leo ever taking a day off, well at least not since he quit drinking.

Debbie shakes her head, "I was just about to take it to the President and ask him about it."

"Here," Abbey says, holding out a hand. "I'll take it to him." She says as she heads for her husband's office.

"Okay," Debbie breathes a sigh of relief. She wasn't looking forward giving it to the President.

Debbie and Charlie share worried glances, as they watch the First Lady enter the Oval Office.

* * *

Jed is sitting behind his desk, deep in thought and doesn't realize his wife is in his office, until she is standing next to him. "Hey, Abbey. What's up?"

"This," she says, thrusting the piece of paper into her husband's hand. She's getting fed up with this thing between Jed and Leo.

Jed uncrumples the paper in his hand and stares at it. He puts on his glasses and reads it, "Leo's taking leave?"

"That's what it says. What are you going to do about it?" She huffs, as she heads for the couch.

"Nothing, I'm sure that he has plenty of leave saved up," he says standing up and following his wife to the couch, trying very hard not to act concerned, but inside his stomach is churning. Leo's not taken any leave since they got to the White House.

"Aren't you curious as to why, all of a sudden, he's taking leave?" She says, taking a seat on the couch.

"No," he lies, sitting down next to her. He doesn't want to admit that he's been thinking about Leo and their rift a lot these past couple of days. He's ashamed of the way he's been treating Leo. But he's not sure how to fix things.

"Jed, I know you. You can't hide your concern from me. You need to go talk to him. I think something's wrong. I saw him the other day in the hallway, when he thought no one was looking, he almost fell and had to rest for a while against the wall."

"He knows where I work. If he has a problem, he knows where to find me," Jed stands up quickly and walks back behind his desk. His stubborn pride won't let him make this right.

"Yeah, like you've been so receptive to him lately, I'm sure he's just forgotten to come to the Residence these past few weeks," she stares at her husband.

"Leo can come and go wherever he wants, no one's stopping him," he advises his wife.

"Jed, that's not true and you know it. You've been ignoring him and pushing him away ever since the bombing in Gaza," Abbey quickly stands and angrily walks over to the front of his desk. "I've heard about some of the childish things that have been going on around here. It's a wonder the story hasn't somehow been leaked to the press."

"He was wrong about wanting to bomb Gaza; it turned out that they weren't even involved in the car bombing. We would have killed innocent people," he snarls, as he slams the palm of his hand on his desk.

"And you were wrong about trying to deal with Chairman Farad. Camp David was a disaster. So, it turns out you were both wrong, when are you two going to stop this?" She yells back at him. "It's tearing you both apart, and it's destroying this administration. You need to stop being a stubborn jackass!"

"Abbey if you would have heard what he said to me at Camden Yards, you wouldn't be so... forgiving." Leo's harsh words about him being gun-shy still echo loudly in his ears.

"And... if you would have heard what I said to him after Zoey was rescued, you've never think that I could be in the same room with him ever again. But, I was wrong then and so are the both of you now," she informs him, turning quickly and heading for the door that connects their two offices. "I'm going to go talk to him and find out what's going on. Leo doesn't take time off for just anything, and you know that," she loudly informs her husband, as she heads for Leo's office.

* * *

Leo is sitting in his chair lost in thought, rubbing his wedding ring with his thumb, without even realizing it. He's reflecting on the past couple of days. He suddenly becomes conscious of the fact that he is playing with his wedding band. He stares at it with a deep frown. He's worn this ring for over thirty years and has rarely taken it off. He takes a hold of it and slides it off his finger. It no longer stands for his love for Jenny, but instead a constant reminder of yet another failure in his life. He closes his eyes and squeezes the ring tightly in his hand, feeling the edge of it dig into his palm.

Leo is still deep in thought, when Abbey walks into his office through the connecting door from the Oval Office. He isn't aware of her presence, until he hears the sound of the closing door. He automatically jumps up at the sound, thinking that it's the President.

Leo's relieved to discover that it's Abbey, standing in front of him, instead of Jed. Because he's not sure that he could face any more disappointment from his best friend right now. Especially with his emotions running as high as they have been this morning, and he doesn't think he'd be able to hold his tongue.

Leo suddenly remembers his tears and quickly goes to wipe them from his face, dropping his ring in the process. The golden ring bounces off his coffee table and lands at Abbey's feet. Both of their eyes drop to the ring on the floor, and then they slowly look at each other.

Leo starts to take a step towards the ring, but stops after Abbey quickly bends over and scoops up the ring. She silently stands there staring at the worn band of gold, which has long ago lost its luster, in her hand for a few seconds. She thinks about the joy and pain that it has caused Leo over the years. She slowly raises her eyes to him and gives him a sympathetic look.

"Abbey," he hoarsely says, his voice still influenced by his raw emotions.

"Leo," she calmly says, as she walks over to him, placing the ring in his outstretched hand. She quickly forgets about the ring, when she notices the tear-streaked marks on his face. "Leo, are you okay? What's going on?" She asks as she places a caring hand on his arm.

"I'm... fine," he says, as he quickly slides his ring back on his hand and quickly drops his hand to his side.

Abbey can feel him shaking. "Leo, sit down and tell me what's going on." She guides him to the couch and sits down next to him.

Leo sits down next to her and breaths a heavy sigh. "There was a bombing... in Nashville and I couldn't get a hold of her and I wasn't sure if she was okay and she just called... and..." he rambles on as the tears start to flow again. Everything that has happened over the past year is coming to a head, and Leo can no longer keep it all inside.

"Her who? Mallory?" She quickly guesses, trying to figure out who and what could make Leo this upset. "And what bombing?" Abbey is shocked at the site of a disheveled and incoherent Leo.

"No, not Mallory," Leo tries to gather himself, "Margaret," he finally manages to say.

"Is she okay?" She quickly asks.

"Yes," Leo nods his head. "There was a drug related car bombing at the hotel she's staying at, and the news blew it out of proportion and Josh knew she was there and... Oh, Abbey I thought... I thought she was dead," he shudders. "I need her... I don't know what I would do without her." Leo's feelings are unguarded and fragile but he's just so relieved that she's okay.

Abbey looks deeply into Leo's eyes and sees the love he has for his long time assistant. "Leo, are you in love with Margaret?" She cautiously asks, with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes... yes I am," he mellifluously whispers.

"Does she know?"

Leo shakes his head.

"Leo, you should tell her," she implores him.

"I know... and after this morning, I plan to," he answers her in a calmer voice wiping the tears off his face once again.

"Good," Abbey smiles. "Do you think she loves you too?"

"I... think so and I'm gonna find out for sure; cause I'm flying out there this afternoon. The FEW Conference needed a last minute replacement for a speaker on Saturday night, and Margaret asked me if I wanted to do it. She knows that I'm not very busy around here these days." Leo motions around the room with his hand.

"Leo, that's what I came in here to talk about."

"Abbey," Leo warns her, his back becoming rigid.

"Leo, this thing between you two has gone on long enough," her voice taking on a mother-like quality.

Leo nods his head in agreement, "I know... I've been thinking about it a lot, lately," he says, looking towards the Oval Office.

"And?" Abbey raises an eyebrow.

"Abbey... I'm starting to think that... the best thing that I can do for ...Jed... is to leave," Leo chokes out, lowering his eyes. He's afraid his tears are going to start again.

"Leo," Abbey gently says, surprised that Leo referred to the President as Jed. Something he's rarely done these past six years. She reaches out and places a hand on his leg. "He doesn't want you to go." She softly informs him.

"It doesn't seem that way to me," Leo says, raising his sad eyes to hers. "Look... I really don't want to belabor the point or fight about it. He did what he thought was best. He's the President. He has that right."

"Leo, you know he's depends on you so much," she stresses.

"That time... has passed," Leo says, slightly shaking his head. "I think that if I stay, he will grow to resent me or... even... hate me."

"Leo, Jed could never hate you," Abbey says in a soft voice.

"You... do," Leo softly accuses, remembering how she treated him after Zoey's rescue.

"Leo, I don't..." She knows what he's referring to. She had been very unforgiving about Zoey's kidnapping. "I was just upset..."

"It doesn't matter, you had every right to be angry and to resent me cause I was the one... who convinced..." He stops abruptly. He still can't admit to Abbey that he blames himself for Zoey's kidnapping. "Let's just say that it all started back then, maybe even before that."

"Leo, it doesn't matter. I don't hate you, and you need to stop blaming yourself for everything. You and Jed did what you thought was best for the country. I realize that now."

"Jed only did it after I convinced him. I tried again after the Gaza bombing. I told him he had no option but to retaliate. I pushed, and he pushed back. He's tired of people thinking that he's my puppet and that I pull his strings."

"Leo McGarry, no one controls Jed," she quickly snaps back, defending her husband.

"I know that, Abbey, but others don't. They think," Leo motions with his hand towards Capitol Hill, "that it's all been me. It's not fair to him. He's a great man, and a great President on his own and it's about time others realize that. And... I don't think that can happen if I stay," his voice growing softer the longer he talks.

"Leo, I think you are giving yourself too much credit," she suggests.

"I'm not trying to take credit. I'm just saying that if I stay, the Republicans will always accuse him of being under my influence."

"But you and Jed know the truth," Abbey offers.

"That doesn't appear to be enough for him... anymore and... it's not fair to him either," he mumbles.

"Leo, you need to talk to Jed. Tell him what you just told me. You two need to work this out before it eats you both up."

"Nah, this is my decision, I know him; he'd just try and convince me to stay," his voice is soft and loving. "I need to make this decision on my own. Besides, I have other decisions I need to make too, and some of they might affect the White House even more, so..."

"Margaret?" She guesses.

"Yeah," he smiles, but his eyes are unable to hide the fact that there is more going on in his life right now besides Margaret and work.

"Leo, is this all that is going on with you? Because I'm having a hard time being convinced that you're thinking about leaving the job you love because of this thing between you and Jed. I've been worried about you for a while now. You look exhausted, and you've lost a lot of weight. Leo, are you okay?" She asks in an anxious tone.

"I'm fine, Doctor B," he swiftly lies. He's not about to tell her about his health problems; Mallory and Margaret don't even know yet. "Plus, I needed to lose some weight," he says, patting his stomach.

"Leo, I don't believe you," she says sternly. She's not about to let him off the hook this time. "When was the last time you had your blood pressure checked? Have you even had a checkup during the past six years? I know you and I know you've not taken care of yourself since... since Jenny left."

"Abbey, drop it," his voice is unyielding. He quickly stands ready to storm out, but realizes that this is his office.

Abbey stands up and gets right in his face. "No, I won't drop it this time. Something's going on with you and I want to know what it is." She has both hands on her hips and is blocking his exit from the room. "I saw you almost fall in the hallway the other day. What's going on?"

The last time she tried to get him to talk about his health he was able to escape the Residence, but this time she's got him trapped. "You're not my doctor," he stubbornly points out.

"Do you even remember who your doctor is?" She sneers. "Do I need to get Mallory involved?" She pulls her last card, even though it might be unfair to bring up Mallory, but she's desperate at this point in time.

Leo drops his eyes at the mention of his daughter's name. "Abbey," he pleads, breathing a heavy sigh. "It's not what you're thinking... it's not... life threatening." He stops, hoping this is enough.

"Leo, please," she requests with her eyes and her voice, dropping her hands from her hips and placing one on his arm.

Leo looks off to the left, like he's searching for an answer and then back at Abbey, "I... need some surgery and well... I've put it off a lot longer than I should have, and so now there's... more that they need to do," he awkwardly admits, looking down at his right leg.

"Your leg," she says, motioning. "You need a knee replacement?" She guesses, realizing that he has been favoring it more lately. She knows about his war injury and has even examined it a few times in the past, when it was bothering him. The last time she examined him was after his drunken fall in that motel parking lot eleven years ago. She's surprised he hasn't had to have his knee replaced before this, because his leg is so bowed below the knee from where had the compound fracture, when he had to bail out of his plane so many years ago. He's lucky that he didn't lose his leg from the injury he sustained.

"And... my hip. They need to replace my hip and knee," he says, sitting down on the couch. His hip is bothering him from where he had practically run back from Josh's office this morning after he told him about the car bombing at the hotel.

"Your hip, too?" Abbey notices a glint of pain cross his face as he sits down.

"My hip has been damaged from all the grinding... ya know... because of the way I have to walk," he explains.

"When did your orthopedic surgeon first mention having your knee replaced?" She sits back down on the couch, beside Leo.

"A few years ago, but I wasn't very respective to the idea of surgery at the time," he admits, lowering his eyes.

"Was it when you were still drinking?" Abbey asks, laying a hand on his leg.

"Yeah," he says, still not looking at her.

"Leo, that's in the past. You need to get this done, and it sounds like the sooner the better." She imagines that he must be in quite a bit of pain to be ready to have the surgery. She knows that he'd put it off as long as he possibly could.

"You doctors, are all the same," he smirks.

"So, why haven't you had it done before now?"

"I was going to wait until after the administration was over, but the doctor said that if I wait too much longer, he'll have to replace both hips. And the pain was been... well it's been getting worse, and now it's sorta catching on things floating around in there."

"When did your doctor tell you that?" Abbey knows that the pain must be bad for Leo to mention it.

"Last year... and then again, very loudly, on Monday."

"Last year," she loudly repeats back to him. "Well why the hell didn't you get it done then?"

"Well, we've just been a little busy around here the past year and..."

"And what, Leo?"

"Well, I'm gonna need a lot of help right after the surgery and then there's going to be a long period time after that when I'll need help and you know that... well... since Jenny left... there hasn't been anyone and you know that since Mallory moved back, she's been busy with teaching. So, there... wasn't anybody else to help me," he softly admits.

"Leo, that's not true. I could have helped, and I know for a fact that Margaret would, too."

Leo gives Abbey a look, "I couldn't ask Margaret, cause it would be too personal and way too much to ask of her. You know everything that it entails," he looks down shyly at the obvious implications of a surgical recovery. 'They are not even intimate with each other...yet,' he thinks to himself.

"I only realized my feelings for her last summer, and it's not been until after this last crisis that I thought that maybe she felt the same way. But even then, I just don't want to be... a burden."

"Leo, she wouldn't think of it as a burden, and even if you two didn't have feelings for one another, she would have helped anyway, she's helped you plenty in the past with other personal things." Abbey knows for a fact that Margaret did a lot of things that Jenny should have been doing when Leo was drinking. Margaret took care of him a lot back then. Better than Jenny ever did. Abbey wonders if Margaret might have been in love with Leo way back then.

"You're probably right," he has some vague memories of Margaret helping him during his days in the labor department before he went into rehab. "But I... couldn't ask her."

"Leo for heaven's sake, you have more money than God. You could have hired people to help take care of you or gone into a rehab facility for your recovery and physiotherapy. You have no valid reasons for not having your surgery and ..." she pauses for a moment, trying to get her emotions under control.

Leo stares at her, surprised by her outburst.

"You could have asked me," Abbey implores.

"Well... we haven't exactly been that close lately and..." He motions between them with his hand.

"Leo, never doubt that I wouldn't be here for you and help you," she says in a soft voice. "Yes, we've had some rough moments these past few years, but I'll always be here for you and Jed will, too." Abbey voice is full of emotion, and she is on the verge of tears.

Leo slightly nods his head. He's not very proud of what has happened between the three of them over the past year. He blames himself for their problems. "Abbey, I never meant for..."

"Shh..." Abbey places a hand to the side of his face. "Leo, stop trying to take the blame for everything."

"If you give me your Ortho's name I can call him and find out more about what needs to be done, if you'd like?" She smiles.

"Thank-You Abbey," he pulls out his wallet, digs out his Ortho's card and hands it to her.

"Does Margaret know that you need to have this done?"

"No, do you really think she would have let me get by this long without having the surgery if she knew?"

"Fair point. Are you going to tell her?" Abbey asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I have a lot to tell her this week, when I get to Nashville," he discloses, with a sigh.

"Yeah, I guess you do. Are you going to let her help you?"

"Yeah," nodding his head.

"Are you going to discuss your future work plans with her too?"

"Probably."

"Leo, as much as I would hate to see you leave, you need to decide what's best for you. I still say you're wrong about the reasons why you should go, and I hope that Jed gets his head out of his ass in time to see how much he's hurting you," she proclaims.

"Abbey," Leo growls.

"What? He's my husband, I can say that about him, even if he 'is' the President of these United States," she smirks. She moves to him and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "When do you leave for Nashville?"

Leo looks at his watch, "In about thirty minutes."

"Are you going to tell Jed you're leaving?"

Leo thinks about it and decides that he can't face him right now, "No," he softly whispers.

"Do you want me to tell him where you're going?"

"I guess," Leo doesn't think he will care anyway. "It really doesn't matter if he knows where I'm at. He won't be needing me anyway."

"Leo," she shakes her head in disgust.

"Abbey," he growls back.

"Okay, so when are you getting back to DC?"

"The flight gets back early Sunday afternoon, but I don't think I'll be back at work until Monday."

"Will you call me when you get back into town?"

"Yeah."

"I'll have the details about your surgery, and we can go over them and we'll need to set a date for your surgery. I assuming your doctor has been ready for some time now."

"Okay, we could meet here in my office, I'll bring Margaret, too."

"Leo, should I mention this to Jed?" Motioning to Leo's leg.

"No," he quickly states.

"Leo," she scoffs.

"Sorry, I just don't want him to try and fix this because of my leg, okay?" Leo doesn't want his sympathy.

"Okay, I won't say anything. But, you're going to have to eventually."

"Yeah, I know."

Abbey heads for the door "Have a good time in Nashville, oh and you're need to call your doctor and tell him it's okay for him to discuss your case with me."

"Okay, I'll call him and I'll try to have a good time."

"Call me when you get back."

"I will," he says to her back as she disappears out his door and down the hallway. He pulls out his cell phone, looks for his Ortho's number in the Contacts Menu and then gives him a call. After he hangs up, he walks back over to his wing back chair and sits down and a small groan of pain escapes from his mouth.

* * *

Sarah hears Mrs. Bartlet leave Leo's office. She gets up and walks over to his door again. She hesitates before entering. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop earlier, when she first got back from completing the tasks that Leo had assigned earlier this morning. She had his office door halfway open and thought she heard him crying, but before she could enter, Mrs. Bartlet walked into his office.

The concern in Mrs. Bartlet's voice made her hover by the door. Sarah heard Leo tell Mrs. Bartlet about the bombing and then she heard him confess his love for Margaret. This brought a smile to Sarah's face as she moved away from the door and sat down at her temporary desk.

Sarah finally finds the courage to knock on Leo's door and waits for him to answer.

"Yeah," Leo raspy voice answers. "Come in."

Sarah opens the door and steps into his office. He doesn't look up at her as she walks over and sits down on the end of the couch that's closest to his chair that he's sitting in. "Leo, umm... are you okay?" Her voice is full of concern.

"Yeah," he hoarsely breathes out, as he continues to stare at a spot on the floor by his feet. "It's... well... it's just been a tough morning. I thought that..." Leo stops and tries to gather himself.

"Leo, it's okay. I umm... sorta overheard you tell Mrs. Bartlet what happened," she shyly admits.

Leo finally raises his eyes at Sarah and sees her knowing smile. He realizes immediately that she must have heard him tell Abbey that he's in love with Margaret. "Did Margaret leaves instructions on how to listen at the door, too?" He smiles.

Sarah's smile fades as she quickly panics, "Mr. McGarry, I didn't mean too, I'm sorry. I was..."

"Sarah, It's Leo... and I was just teasing ya," he grins. "I trust you."

"Oh," she says, as she instantly calms down. "I didn't mean too, it's just I heard you umm... well I could tell you were upset and I was about to come in and check on you, but Mrs. Bartlet..."

"Sarah, it's okay. Really," he tries to persuade her. "You know... you remind me a lot of Margaret when she first started working for me. You have a lot of the same qualities."

"Thank you, that means a lot to me cause I think Margaret's wonderful," she says as her face turns slightly crimson.

"I think she's wonderful, too," he grins. "And you blush like her too," Leo softly laughs.

Sarah's gives Leo a warm smile, "Leo, is there anything I can do for you before you leave?"

"Nah, I think I'm all set," he informs her.

"Should I call for your service car? It's almost ten," she says as she stands. Margaret will kill her if she lets Leo miss his plane.

"Yeah," He replies as he stands up, using the arms of the chair to help him stand.

Sarah notices a ripple of pain wash across Leo's face as he slowly stands, "Is there something I can get you... for the pain?" She inquires, as she motions towards his hip.

"Nah," Leo shakes his head. "I can't take anything else for another couple of hours."

"Okay, I'll go call for your car," she says as she heads for the door and then hesitates and turns back around. "Leo... I just wanted to say that... Margaret's a very lucky person to have someone like you, love her."

"Thanks," he says, blushing slightly. He thinks he's the one who's lucky, well that is if Margaret returns his feelings.

"You're welcome," she says as she disappears though the open door.

Leo stands there for a few seconds, looking around his office and wondering if it will be his for much longer. He walks outs into his outer office area, "Sarah, I'm outa here. See ya on Monday. I've already called the pool and informed them that they've lost their best person," he smiles.

"Leo, I just wanted to thank you again for this opportunity."

"You've earned it," he informs her with a smile. "I'll call Josh on the way to the airport and tell him you've be reporting to him tomorrow." He says, as he starts to leave.

"Okay. Have a good trip and good luck."

"Thanks," he says. "Bye."

"Bye."

* * *

Leo steps off the plane at around twelve o'clock Central Time. He's already adjusted his watch on the plane. He pulls out his cell phone and calls Margaret. She answers it after a few rings.

"Hey Leo," she says. She had her phone on vibrate and stepped out into the hallway to answer it.

"I just got off the plane," he tells her as he heads for the arrival area of the airport, so that he can catch a cab. He didn't check his luggage, so he didn't have to wait forever to get it.

"Great, I'll meet you in the lobby." She looks at her watch and figures she has at least forty-five minutes until he gets here. It's almost time for their lunch break, and then she just has one more seminar today. It's scheduled to start at one-thirty, so she won't have to miss much to be able to catch Leo before he tries to check into the hotel.

"Margaret, I know how to check into a hotel. I thought we'd covered this already," he reminds her.

"I didn't say you didn't, but this hotel is huge and you'll never be able to find your room," she politely informs him.

"Are you questioning my navigational skills?" He smirks, as he walks out of the airport door and finds a limo driver standing there with his name on his board. Leo smiles that Margaret arranged for a driver to pick him up.

"No... yes, cause who kept getting lost during the first Champaign?" She mocks, smiling because Leo seems to be in a good mood.

"That was Josh's fault," Leo voice takes on a 'Josh like' whine. "He kept giving me bad directions," he protests, climbing into the back seat of the limo.

"Fine, blame Josh, but I've seen you try to read a map and you can never figure out how to properly refold them," she laughs, as she paces the hallway outside the room she was just in.

"Hey, I don't think those things can be refolded; it's like origami." He gripes, as the limo pulls away from the curb. The driver said they should be at the hotel in about twenty minutes. He'll show Margaret. He'll get there, check in, find his room and then call her. He smiles to himself at the fun he'll have bragging to Margaret about his triumph.

"Leo, as much fun as this is, picking on your poor navigational skills is I need to get back into the seminar. I don't want to waste the government's money."

"Okay, I'll see ya at the hotel, Bye."

"Bye," she replies, flipping her phone shut, as she sneaks quietly back into the room and takes her seat.

TBC in Part 6

Feedback is greatly appreciated! Please let me know what you think!!

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to already provide feedback!!!!

Bev (adoreleo): 

Lynn (leosimpishgrin): 


	6. Part 6

* * *

Part 6

See disclaimers in Part 1.

* * *

Leo arrives at the hotel around twenty after twelve. The bellhop grabs his bags out of the trunk and takes them inside for him. Leo tips the driver and then heads for the registration desk. "Hi, I need to check in," he tells the young lady behind the counter with a smile.

"Your name sir?" The pleasant young lady asks, in her soft but definitely southern drawl.

"Leo McGarry," he says, leaning his arms on the counter.

She looks his name up in the computer. She gets a puzzled look and types in his name again. "I'm sorry, Sir, but I don't seem to have a reservation in your name. Are you sure this is the hotel you have a room reserved at?"

"Yes, my assistant booked my room for me," he informed her.

"I'll check again," she types it in again. "I'm sorry, sir we don't have a reservation for you. Do you think she might have made the reservation in her own name?"

"Nah, she never has in the past, but I guess it's worth a try. Her name's Margaret McGuire."

"Well, we do have a Margaret McGuire in one of our Presidential suites, but that's the only room coming up under her name," she explains.

"That's okay," he breathes out with a sigh. 'I can't believe Margaret didn't take care of this. That's so unlike her,' he thinks to himself as he slightly shakes his head. "Could ya just give me any room, please?" He wearily requests.

"Sir, I'm sorry but... we're sold out."

"What?"

"We have four conventions here this week, we've been sold out for tonight and tomorrow night for weeks now," she explains. "Maybe your assistant booked you a room somewhere else? Why don't you call her? You can use the complimentary phone in the lobby, and then we can shuttle you to your hotel," she points towards the phone in the hallway.

"Thanks, but I have my cell phone," he promptly pulls his phone out of his pocket and punches in Margaret's number as he walks over towards the waiting area of the hotel lobby.

"Leo?" She answers, after she sees his number on her phone display. She has just sat down with Lynette to eat lunch.

"Margaret, I'm at the hotel and I don't seem to have a room. I thought you said you took care of it," he only slightly angrily questions. He still thinks the hotel made a mistake, because 'his' Margaret never screws up his reservations. He knows she'll have paperwork or a confirmation number to prove the clerk behind the counter wrong.

"Umm... I did take care of it. Leo, just wait for me, I'll be there in a couple of minutes," she says as she quickly excuses herself from lunch with Lynette and hurriedly walks towards the Guest Relations area.

'I can't believe Leo's at the hotel already. I thought I would be finished lunch by the time he got here, he shouldn't be here for another thirty minutes,' she mutters under her breath. She arrives at the lobby a few of minutes later and finds a dismayed and haggard looking Leo sitting in a chair with his luggage on the floor beside him.

"Hi Leo, welcome to Nashville. How was your flight? Isn't the weather nice here? How did you get here so soon?" She asks, trying to delay telling him about his room arrangements.

"Hey," he softly smiles, as he stands, so happy to see her. But, his smile fades as quickly as it appeared. "My flight was fine. Yes, the weather is also fine and I didn't check any of my bags, so I didn't have to wait," he quickly answers her questions. "Now..." he says as he puts his hands on his hips, "why the hell don't I have a room here?"

"Leo you do have a room," she says as she bends over, grabs his carryon and then hands him his garment bag.

"Well?" Leo stands there, holding his bag and not moving. "Let's go tell the lady behind the counter over there that she's made a mistake and get my room key," he says, pointing over in the general direction of the registration area.

"Leo, just... please come upstairs with me and I'll explain it to you there," she pleads as she hastily heads towards the bank of elevators.

"But, Margaret," he calls after her.

"Leo, please," she stops and walks back over to him. She doesn't want the whole lobby to overhear their conversation. "They don't have a reservation for you, but I'll explain it all to you upstairs."

Leo follows her into the elevators, "Well, if I don't have a reservation, I'd like to see you explain how you're going to make a room appear out of nowhere. They said the hotel is sold out."

"I can, just wait till we get to my room, okay?" She informs him as she presses the button for the elevator.

"Yeah," he says, trying to will himself to stop thinking about her room with the sunken tub.

"Leo, are you okay? You seem a little... flushed," she asks, as she enters the elevator.

"I'm fine," he says, pulling at his collar. "It was a little warm in the lobby, and we practically ran to the elevators," he grumbles.

"I didn't run to the elevators, and the lobby was really cold from the air conditioning. Are you sure you're feeling okay?" She asks in a worried tone.

"Margaret, I'm fine," he quickly replies in a tone that tells her to not ask any more questions. He's not about to tell her the reason he's flushed is because he was thinking about her in that tub.

They spend the rest of the trip in the elevator in silence. Once they reach her floor, they step off the elevator and Margaret leads the way to her room. As soon as they get inside Leo impatiently demands, "Well, I'm waiting for my explanation?"

"Well, here's your room," she says quickly, as she motions with her hand around the suite.

"What?"

"Leo, when I tried to get you a room, the hotel was booked solid, so then I thought about getting you into another hotel, but then I thought, why waste the money. This suite has two bedrooms."

"We're gonna... share a room?" Leo asks in disbelief. This is better than he had hoped for, but he's still a little shy about it all.

"Yeah, well... we're both adults. You have the master bedroom, and I have other one; we don't even have to share a bathroom," she hurriedly says, just as she had rehearsed it in her head several times this morning. "So, really we're not sharing a room at all."

"Or... the sunken tub," Leo mutters without thinking, and then quickly blushes when he realizes he said it out loud.

Margaret faces turns red too, "Leo?"

"Hey, umm... you said we were both adults," he replies, trying to make light of the comment that flew out of his mouth before he could stop it. "Why do I have the master bedroom? Weren't you already staying in there?"

"Yeah, but when I couldn't get you a room and since 'I' decided that you were staying here... well... and since you're paying the bill... I thought you should have the master bedroom," she stammers out.

"Margaret, this was your gift. You should have the master bedroom," he softly reasons. "I insist."

"Leo, I don't have time to stand here and argue with you. I need to get back downstairs. Lynette and I just sat down to eat lunch when you called," she informs him. "Have you eaten lunch yet?"

"No and why don't you go back downstairs and finish yours. I'll get something to eat in a little bit."

"You promise?"

"Yes Margaret, scout's honor," Leo says, raising his right hand and giving her an impish grin.

"Leo, Somehow... I doubt that you were ever a Boy Scout," she smirks.

"Well... you're right... but still," he smiles.

Margaret gives Leo a look, "You'll eat?"

"Yes, Margaret I'll eat."

"Okay," she affirms with a bob of her head and a quick smile.

"So, after lunch... are you done for the day?" Leo asks, in a hopeful tone. He wants to talk to her about how he feels about her.

"No, I have another seminar that starts at one thirty and runs until five o'clock, but after that, I'm all yours for the rest of the day," she immediately flushes at the way that last part sounded.

'I wish,' Leo thinks to himself. "Okay, well I'm going to unpack, eat and then maybe check out the hotel while you're gone."

"Leo, why don't you go eat and just relax? I can unpack for you after I get back," she offers. In the past, Margaret has usually taken care of that for him on both campaigns and other trips that they have gone on together, especially since Jenny left him.

"Margaret, go eat your lunch. I can handle my own unpacking," he lightly growls, with a smile on his face.

"You just don't want me to pick on you about how poorly you packed your things. I bet everything's just jammed in there and all wrinkled now," she teases, as she heads the door. "Oh and by the way... I draw the line at ironing your clothes," she laughs.

"Well... I think you just want to get a look at my unmentionables," he teases back. Leo's glad that she has her back turned to him, so she doesn't see the desire on his face.

"Been there, done that, not worth the effort," Margaret quips back, over her shoulder.

"Oh Margaret, now that hurt," he feigns chest pain, putting a hand to his heart.

"Get over it," she laughs, looking back at him. "Have fun, I'll be back after five," she says, as she opens the door. "Oh and Leo, this is a non-smoking room," she gives him a pointed look.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" He appeals to her in his best innocent sounding voice. He's been wondering when she was going to get around to nagging him about him smoking again.

"It means you won't be able to sneak a cigarette behind my back here in the room and that you'll have to find somewhere outside of the hotel to smoke those vile things that you have hidden in your shirt pocket," she informs him.

"Margaret," he growls.

"And while we're on the subject, you shouldn't be smoking at all. You worked so hard on stopping after you got back from..." Margaret abruptly stops. Normally, she wouldn't say a thing about him smoking; it's just that lately she feels more like his friend than his assistant. She knows that he's been smoking off and on again since Zoey's kidnapping, but since this thing with the President, she has smelled smoke on him everyday.

"Margaret, it's called rehab and it's okay to say it out loud. Everyone knows I was in rehab, and... you're right, I did work hard to stop smoking but things have... lets just say it's not been an easy year and leave it at that. I'll stop again," he softly says, patting his shirt pocket that contains a half-empty pack of cigarettes that he just opened this morning.

"You promise," she softly demands.

"Yeah, I promise," his voice goes even lower as he almost to a whisper, "Thanks for caring, Margaret." 'She has never smoked cigarettes. I have to stop if there is any hope of us getting together. It would be like kissing an ashtray. All the mints and gum in the world can't cover that taste,' he thinks to himself.

"You're welcome," she bobs her head. "Okay, I'll be back after five. Your key card is on the coffee table; make sure you take it when you go downstairs to get something to eat. Bye," she says as she walks out the door.

"Bye," Leo calls after her.

Leo watches her leave and smiles. He hasn't felt this good in a long time. He looks around the suite and is surprised at its size. He walks over to the Baby Grand piano, taps on a couple of keys and then sits down on the piano bench. He's still thinking about what Margaret said about his cigarettes, he pats his shirt pocket again and decides that there's no time like the present. He stands, walks over to the trashcan in the kitchenette, grabs the pack of cigarettes from his pocket, crushes them and throws them into it.

Leo walks around the suit a few more minutes, making sure that Margaret is really gone. Then he goes into the other bedroom and starts moving her things back into the Master bedroom. It takes him only a few minutes to complete the task, well almost complete the task. He can't bring himself to move her panties and bras. He leaves them for her to move. He walks back into his bedroom and throws his suit bag on the bed and starts to unpack.

After he unpacks, he sits down on the bed. He knows he promised Margaret that he'd get something to eat, but he's really not hungry. He's more tired than anything else, and his hip is starting to throb from being cooped up on that airplane. The past few sleepless nights, the stuff with Jed and all the emotions of the day are finally starting to catch up with him. He debates about taking something for his hip, but he chooses to tough it out. He decides that maybe lying down will help it. He stands, takes off his sport coat, unbuttons another button on his shirt, untucks his shirt a little, slips out of his shoes and crawls into the center of the bed. He uses the extra pillow to support his hip and within seconds, he's fast asleep and dreaming of Margaret.

* * *

Margaret heads back to her hotel room an hour earlier than she had told Leo that she would be back. The last seminar had been really boring; so she and Lynette decided that they were skipping out at the next break. Margaret opens the door to their suite and finds the living room vacant. She heads for the master bedroom, but then remembers that she moved into the smaller one. She changes directions and heads for the other bedroom.

Margaret stops abruptly after she opens the door and finds Leo asleep on her bed. She looks around the room and notices his things lying about. She shakes her head when she realizes what he's done. Her eyes rest on his body. He looks so cute lying there on the bed, looking years younger, with a peaceful and relaxed look on his face. She can't help but smile at his open collar; his half-untucked shirt and then her eyes drift lower on his body.

"Oh my God," escapes from her lips, before she has a chance to stop the words from spilling out. She quickly slaps a hand to her mouth. She decides that Leo must be having a wonderful and exciting dream from the reaction that he's having. She can't help but stare. She knows that she should be ashamed to be staring at him and that she should leave, but it's like seeing a car wreck; you just have to look. She feels her body starting to react to what she sees, and her mind starts to wander.

Leo moans and moves a little in his sleep. This breaks Margaret's trance, and she quickly and quietly leaves his bedroom. She goes to her bedroom and finds her things there. She walks into the bathroom and notices the bath oil sitting on the tub. She decides that a nice bath is what she needs right now. She fills the tub up with water, adds some bath oils, gets undressed and eases herself into the warm water. She lays her head back and relives her recent images of Leo lying in bed. Her eyes pop wide open; she shakes her head, tries to think of other things, and then closes her eyes again. This time when the images come, she relaxes and drifts off to sleep.

* * *

Leo wakes up, remembers dreaming about Margaret in the sunken tub and then realizes he has an issue. He sits up on the edge of the bed, willing himself to calm down. Finally, he decides that only a cold shower will help his current situation. He gets up, walks to his bathroom, pulls off his shirt, undershirt and then drops his pants and boxers. He pulls back the shower curtain to turn on the water and finds Margaret's silk stockings hanging there. They don't help his problem, as a matter of fact; the stockings just make it worse. He shakes his head in disgust at what little control he has over his thoughts, and his body these past few days. He quickly grabs his pants, pulls them back on and carefully zips them up. He snatches the hanger with the stockings on it, holding it away from his body, and heads for the master bathroom.

He pads across the floor, barefooted, opening the door to the master bedroom and continuing on into the bathroom. He rubs his bleary eyes, trying to get the sleep from them. He doesn't notice that he's not the only one in the room until he's practically next to the tub.

"Oh Gwad," Leo says, dropping the hanger, when he sees Margaret lying in the tub, with her firm round breasts peeping up at him.

Margaret jolts awake, "Leo, what the hell?"

"I'm... I'm... sorry," he slowly stammers out, as he backs up towards the door. His eyes are riveted to her beautiful form lying in the sunken tub. The reality of it is so much better than his recent dreams. He quickly notices that she's a natural red head.

Margaret finally recovers from her shock and covers herself by crossing her arms over her chest. Her eyes gravitate to his lower region and discover that he's still in the same condition as he was during his nap.

Leo finally regains his senses, sees where her eyes are looking and quickly looks down, turns and bolts from the room. He almost runs to his bedroom and shuts the door quickly behind him.

Margaret jumps out of the tub, hurriedly dries, throws her clothes back on, wraps her hair in a towel and goes after him. She finds his door shut and knocks, "Leo," she calls though the door.

"Go away," he yells back.

"No, I won't. Leo, please open the door. It's okay. It's not a big deal. I'm not mad. I got back early; you didn't know."

"Margaret, please," he snarls.

She checks the doorknob finds it unlocked, opens the door and finds him hurriedly packing his stuff. "Leo, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to check into another hotel," he says, without looking at her. He finally raises his eyes to hers, "look Margaret, I'm sorry I didn't..."

"Leo, there's no reason for you to leave," she tries to tell him, as she stares at him. He's added his shirt, but it's unbuttoned and he's still bare footed. She almost smiles at the sight of him.

"I think... that under the circumstances...I should leave," he informs her, grabbing some more clothes from his drawers and throwing them into his carryon.

"No," she says a little more forcefully than she planned. "I don't want you to leave. Leo, it's okay. I only screamed because you startled me when you dropped the hanger."

"I should have been paying closer attention... I..."

"Well I'm sure you weren't expecting me back this early," she knows he would never intentionally have entered her bathroom if he thought there was even the slightest chance that she was in there.

"But still, maybe this wasn't such a good idea," he motions around the room with his hand, "us sharing a room."

"Well if you really want to move to another hotel, I can't stop you. But, I really don't think you have to. We just need to be more careful, is all," she explains to him. She doesn't want him to leave. She's hoping that somehow that them sharing a room will open the door to them having a relationship.

"Its just, well... I guess I'm just used to being... alone," he says, and then turns back to his suitcase and softly mutters to himself, "Maybe that's how it's meant to be for me."

Margaret hears his last statement and gets upset. She's tired of him thinking the way he does. He's always so down on himself. "Leo, stop it. It happened. It's nobody's fault. Stop taking the blame for every damn little thing that happens," she yells, as she leaves his bedroom and slams his door shut.

"Damnit," Leo mutters, as he plops down on the bed. He's never seen Margaret this angry before. He finally gets up and goes the bathroom, picks up his boxers and slowly wanders back out into his bedroom. He undoes his pants, steps out of them and is in the process of pulling on his boxers, when Margaret comes bursting back into his bedroom.

"And another thing Leo McGarry..." she abruptly stops, when she realizes he's standing there with his back to her and his boxers halfway up his legs. She gets a brief glimpse of his backside, before he can pull them all the way up. 'Thank God, he was facing the bed;' Margaret tells herself under her breath. "Oh, Leo... I'm so sorry. I had no idea..." She gasps, raising a hand to her blushing face, and then turns quickly and bolts from his room.

"Margaret," he calls after her. Leo quickly pulls his pants on, buttons his shirt and follows her. He finds her sitting on the couch in the living room. "Hey," he says, sitting down beside her but a respectful distance away from her. "I guess we're even now," he says with a forced grin.

Margaret looks up at Leo and smiles, "Well, not really. I think you saw a lot more of me than I did of you," she lightly teases. "All I got was a quick glimpse of your skinny little butt," she laughs.

"Hey, my..." He quickly decides to drop the matter. "Yeah, I guess I did umm... see more. Look... I'm sorry," he tells her again.

"Leo, let's just remember, what goes on TDY, stays on TDY," she laughs a little, covering her nervousness.

"Right," he quickly agrees. "But I'm still sorry."

"Leo, I know. Please let's just forget about it," she softly pleads and then gives him a warm smile. "Hey, are you hungry?" Trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, I guess. I haven't eaten since breakfast," he tells her so she won't pick on him about not eating at all today.

"Leo, you promised earlier today that you'll eat lunch," she quickly points out.

"I know, and I was gonna to, but... to tell ya the truth... I was more tired than hungry."

"Okay, you're off the hook for not eating lunch, but now you're going to go eat a good healthy dinner."

"I was wondering when you were going to get around to trying to shove food in my face," he smirks.

"Well, someone needs to make sure you eat," she laughs.

"Sarah did offer to bring me lunch both days that she temped for me. Did you leave her instructions to do that?" He fakes a weak frown that turns quickly to a grin despite his best efforts, he's happy to be bantering with her again. He's missed her so much while she's away these last few days.

"Maybe, but you'll have to take that up with her, because I'm not telling," she declares.

"I'm sure she's sworn to secrecy," he suggests.

"I hope you treated her nicely. She's not been in the pool very long, and I hope you didn't frighten her away."

"I was very nice, you can ask her if you like," he smiles.

"I just might," she counters. "I'll call her when we get back."

"I guess you could call her if you'd like, but she doesn't work in the pool anymore. She's assigned to Josh's and my offices from now on," he smiles.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she was a big help and well... I felt she deserved a break... sorta like someone else I knew a long time ago," he softly says.

"See... you are sweet."

"Whatever... but lets not let that get around, okay?" He implores.

"No one would believe it anyway," she smirks.

"Hey," he laughs.

"No... really Leo that was very nice of you to give her a job. Josh can really use the help with Donna being gone."

"Yeah, Josh really needs help and...," he stops, he almost told her that his office will need help soon, too. "Umm... Margaret, can I ask ya a question?"

"Sure," she quickly returns.

"Why did you choose Sarah? How did you know she'd... well work out so well?" He asks.

"I met her last month when she was temping in CJ's office. She was having problems with the copier and well... we just sorta starting talking and I offered to meet her for lunch that day. She's a new college graduate with huge student loans and... she's alone here in DC and well... I just really like her."

"Margaret, say no more. I like her too," he tells her. He didn't mean to put her on the spot.

"Okay."

"Good. Hey didn't you say something about eating? Cause I'm a little hungry," he informs her.

"Yes I did, so let's go get something to eat," she smiles. "I've already made dinner reservations for us at the Old Hickory Steakhouse it's a really nice restaurant here in the hotel, under the glass atrium of the Delta Island, surrounded by the breathtaking indoor gardens, the winding pathways, the cascading waterfalls and..."

"Margaret," he grumbles, shaking his head at his quirky assistant. She has definitely earned her reputation for being the condensed Reader's Digest index of... well, all human knowledge.

"Sorry," she blushes. 'I really need to stop rambling on all the time,' she thinks to herself. "So you're ready to eat?"

"Yeah," he tells her again. He just hopes that Margaret doesn't give him heck about what he plans to order.

"I didn't think you would feel much like leaving the hotel after the long day you've had," she offers, as she stands.

"It sounds perfect," he says, as he gets off the couch. "Is this good enough?" He motions to his casual attire.

"Yeah, it's perfect, but you might want to put on some socks and shoes," she informs him.

"Right," his face reddens as he looks at his feet. He forgot he didn't have any shoes and socks on. He makes his way to his bedroom to get some clean socks on.

"Let me mess with my hair a bit and then we can go. I made reservations for five-thirty," she checked her watch, as she removes the towel from her hair and heads to the bathroom. "We should just make it," she tells him over her shoulder.

* * *

Leo and Margaret have a quiet walk down to the restaurant. Both of them are still thinking about the bathroom incidents. They pass though the Delta Island area on the way to the Old Steak House. They stop for a while, watching the Mississippi style flatboat full of people float by them.

"That looks like fun," Margaret comments.

"Wanta ride it after dinner?" Leo asks, putting a hand to her back, guiding her toward the restaurant.

"Yeah, I love boats," she informs him.

They are seated within a few minutes of arriving at the restaurant. They requested a table on the balcony, overlooking the Delta Island and the River Boat ride. Leo is still somewhat bothered by the earlier events in the room and won't hold eye contact with Margaret for very long.

Margaret can tell that Leo is still embarrassed, "Leo, it's okay," she says, reaching across the table and laying her hand on his, to get his attention. "You didn't know that I was in there. Will you please stop feeling guilty about it?" She quickly removes her hand, realizing what she just did. They usually don't touch hands. He sometimes puts his hand to the small of her back, but he does that to everyone.

Leo looks at her, "Margaret, I... just didn't want ya to think that..."

"Leo, I don't. You don't think that about me, do you?" Margaret watches Leo shake his head. "Okay then, lets just forget it happened."

Leo nods his head. He really doesn't want to forget the sight he saw. He wants her, but he's not sure how to tell her. He'd planned to tell her as soon as he got here today, after the bombing incident had scared him. But finding out that they were sharing a hotel room had made him a little nervous and then seeing her naked had thrown him way off his game plan.

"Okay, I just want to say I'm sorry, one more time," he says, reaching across the table and touching her hand.

"Okay," she says, looking at his hand on top of hers. "So, what are you thinking about getting?" Margaret asks, as she slowly slides her hand out from under his and picks up her menu.

"Hmm, I was thinking maybe some prime rib," he smiles.

* * *

They spend the rest of the dinner sharing some things about themselves and having a nice meal. Margaret tells him some more about her shopping trip and the night she went to the Wildhorse Saloon. Leo talks a little about his dinner with Mallory, but doesn't mention the West Wing. He does tell her that Josh talked to Donna, just before he left to come to Nashville, and that she's doing really well and hopes to be back in DC soon.

When they are done and they are headed back to their room, they walk back by the Island, and take a ride on the flat boat. It doesn't last very long, and Margaret is a little pouty when it's over so soon.

"That was short," she frowns, as she reaches for Leo's extended hand as she steps out of the boat.

Leo takes her hand, helping her onto the dock, "You really liked that?"

"Oh yeah, I've always loved boats," she gushes.

"I never knew that," he says, still holding her hand, even though she has safety made it out of the boat and onto the dock.

Margaret shyly looks down at their hands, "Um... yeah. I use to go boating with my family all the time when I was a kid. I love to go fast down the river with the wind blowing my hair."

Leo lets go of her hand; he puts a hand to the small of her back, guiding her toward the elevators. "I've not been boating in years. Mallory used to love to go, but Jen..." Leo stops abruptly.

"But Jenny what, Leo?" She asks with a soothing smile, letting him know it was okay to talk about his ex-wife.

"Jenny never really cared for it, so we didn't go much and then there was... well you know... my drinking and we stopped going altogether." He hates that a lot of his memories about Mallory's childhood are tainted from his addictions.

They reach the elevators and wait for one to arrive, "Leo, you could still take Mallory boating. I bet she would love it," Margaret informs him.

"Yeah, I should," he lowers his eyes and stares at his shoes. "Ah..." he says looking back up at her. "Maybe you'd like to go too?"

"You bet, I'd love to go," she smiles, stepping on the elevator.

"Great," he replies, following her.

"When?" Margaret says almost a little too eagerly.

"Well, there's not much going on for me at work lately, so how about the weekend after we get back?"

"Great," she acknowledges with a head bob.

"Then it's a date," he shyly adds.

They both get quiet at the term that he just used. They stare at each other for a few moments, then Margaret speaks up, "Yes, I'm gonna hold you to it, too."

Leo wishes she would hold him to more than that, but he needs to stop his mind from going there right now. "I'm not planning to back out of it," he emphasizes with an impish grin.

* * *

Once they get back to the suite, neither of them knows what to do. They stand there in the living room for a few awkward seconds, until Margaret breaks the ice, "Would you like something to drink," Margaret asks, heading for the wet bar. "We have all kinds or soda and juice."

"Something without caffeine," he tells her.

"There's 7-Up. Is that okay?" She asks, as she sorts though the refrigerator.

"That'll be fine," he answers, slipping off his jacket and laying it on the back of the couch and then sitting down.

Margaret grabs a couple of diet 7-Ups and walks over to get two glasses from the bar. She pours the soda and overflows the second one. She cleans up her mess with a paper towel and then throws it in the trash. She contentedly smiles when she sees Leo's pack of crushed cigarettes in the trashcan. She walks to the living room area and joins him on the couch. She hands Leo a glass of soda and he quickly takes a drink, "Is this Diet, Margaret?"

"Yes, diet. You don't need all that extra sugar," she informs him, still smiling from what she saw in the trash. She decides not to say anything to him about it.

"Okay," he says, not quite sure of her logic, but he learned a long time ago that sometimes it's just easier to go along with her, than to argue with her.

"So, what are you going to do tomorrow while I'm at the convention?" She asks, opening her soda, then taking a small drink.

"Well... I should work on my speech, but I have almost three days to write it," he replies, as he fiddles with the tab on the soda.

"Leo, you don't want to wait too long. Cause I know you, and I know how you just love to revise things fifteen times before you have a final copy," she implies with a knowing look.

"I don't revise things fifteen times," he denies, as he opens his soda.

"You do too," she argues. "And it's gotten worse since we got to the White House," she adds.

"I wouldn't have to revise things so many times if you didn't change things when you typed them up," he tries to push the blame on her.

"I make only grammar corrections, which are a lot in your case," she informs him with a smirk of a smile.

"There's nothing wrong with my use of the English language," he readily points out.

"Is that what you call it, English?" She laughs.

"What'd ya laughing at," he quickly retorts. "Just cause I'm from Chicago doesn't mean I can't use proper English, ya know," he grins.

"And all I have to say is thank God there's computers now, cause I used have to retype all those revisions for you," she smirks, as she gets up from the couch. "I'm going to go put on something more comfortable. I'll be right back."

Leo sits there for a few seconds, then gets up and heads for his bedroom. He goes to the bathroom and then comes back out into his bedroom. He decides to change into his sweat pants and goes looking for them. He quickly discovers that he didn't remember to pack them. He walks back out into the living room. He finds Margaret on the couch, in sweats and a campaign t-shirt from the last election, with her long legs curled up under her.

"You didn't change?" She says, noticing that he still has on his Dockers and shirt from earlier.

"Well... I was going to, but... someone forgot to pack my sweat pants," he informs her, as he takes a seat on the opposite end of the couch. "My usual packer was out of town, and I had to rely on someone else."

Margaret lets out a small laugh, "I told you you'd forget something."

"Well, I'm sure I would have remembered, but if I remember correctly, someone was bothering me when I was packing," he explains, folding his arms over his chest and staring at her.

"Really. Who?" Margaret asks, her mind quickly jumping to conclusions, fearing that somehow Jordan was back into the picture.

"You," he laughs at the puzzled look on her face.

"Oh," she shyly says.

"So, tell me about what you've been doing here at the conference, so far, on the government's dollar," he grins.

Margaret spends the next hour telling Leo all the things she's been doing. Leo just leans back and listens to her animated voice as she talks about the events she's attended and the people that she's met. He loves listening to her and he still can't believe that he's here with her, sharing a suite. He occasionally offers a comment, but mostly he's content to listen to Margaret ramble on.

Margaret finally stops, "So, do you know what the topic of your speech is going to be for the dinner on Saturday night?"

"No, not really. What is the theme of this year's event for again?" He asks, hoping that it will inspire him to come up with an appropriate topic.

"Sounds of Success," she tells him.

"Well, I guess I should try to work that into my speech somehow," Leo says, scratching his chin, thinking about what he'll talk about.

Margaret yawns and then looks at her watch, "Leo, I think I'm going to call it a night and go to bed. I need to get up for early to meet some friends for breakfast tomorrow," she says, standing and stretching a little. "Do you want to come with me tomorrow?"

"You mean you and a bunch of woman yapping early in the morning. Nah, I'll think I'll pass," he smirks, giving her an impish grin.

"Okay, suit yourself. I guess I should tell you that some of these women think you're very handsome. But, for the life of me, can't imagine why," she teases, as she heads for her bedroom.

"Hey," he feigns a hurt look on his face.

"Get over it," she laughs.

"Okay," he says, heading for his bedroom. He looks at his watch and sees that it's eleven o'clock. He can't believe how quickly time has flown by tonight.

"See ya tomorrow," he stops and watches her.

"Night," she tells him, before disappearing into her bedroom.

TBC in Part 7

Feedback is greatly appreciated! Please let me know what you think!!

* * *

Thanks to all of you who have already taken the time to provide such wonderful feedback! I have tried to personally respond to all of it, if I have missed you I am terribly sorry. I had originally planned to post the parts of FEW every three days, but I got so many people begging for it sooner, that I switched it to every other day. See, your feedback does count!

* * *


	7. Part 7

Part 7

See disclaimers in Part 1.

It's been over two hours since Leo and Margaret said goodnight, and Leo is up once again prowling around his room. He had every intention of going to sleep. He has his pajama bottoms and a t-shirt on and has even laid down a few times, but he just can't seem to turn off his mind and get to sleep. Every time he closes his eyes, he replays seeing his Margaret, naked, in the sunken tub earlier today. His palms are sweaty and he's feeling very antsy, just like a hormone raged teenager lusting after the girl who is completely out of his league. He decides to get a drink and maybe sit on the couch for a while. Maybe a change of scenery will help him relax enough to sleep.

Leo saunters out into the living room, tries to quietly rummage through the refrigerator, and finally finds something that looks good. He slowly walks over to the bar, picks up a glass with a heavy base, drops a couple of ice cubs into it and pours his drink. He walks over to the couch and plops down. He rests his arm on the side of the couch and stares at the golden liquid in his glass. He swishes it a round a little and then takes a drink.

"Leo," Margaret gasps, as she makes her way towards him. She has been standing in her bedroom doorway watching him for the past several moments.

Leo's arm jerks when she calls his name, spilling some of the drink on the couch and on him, "Margaret, what the hell? God, you scared me," he says, as he jumps up, trying to avoid the liquid that is flying everywhere.

"What the hell do you think you doing?" She loudly scoffs, pointing at the glass in his hand.

"Having a drink, well at least I was until you made me spill half it all over myself," he scoffs, as he tries to brush the liquid off himself.

"I can see that," she loudly exclaims. "Oh my God Leo, why now? Was the experience tonight in the bathroom so horrible that it caused you to drink again," she accuses, as she walks over and grabs the glass from his hand.

"Margaret, it's only ginger ale," he snorts. "I'm not falling off the wagon," then he adds under his breath, 'yet, but I may after seeing you in those silky, revealing pajamas.'

"It... is?" She shyly asks, carefully looking at the drink in her hand.

"Yeah, take a drink," he offers, motioning to the glass in her shaky hand.

She takes a quick drink and discoveries that it's only ginger ale. Her head falls as she closes her eyes, and then she looks back at Leo, "Oh Leo, I'm so sorry it's... just well... I thought... I don't know how I could be so stupid." Her face is completely covered in a crimson hue.

"Margaret, really, it's okay," he tries to convince her as he stares at her long legs that seem to go on forever that are sticking out from her very short, silky, thin, midnight blue pajama shorts. He raises his eyes to try to look her in the face, and he notices that she wearing a matching top that is sleeveless with little buttons down the front. She has the top couple of buttons undone, and he can see just a hint of her cleavage. He clears his throat and forces his wandering eyes to stay above her shoulders. "Umm... you just startled me, and I might add... caused me to drench myself," he says, looking down at his pajama bottoms. Trying hard not to stare at her slender and desirable body. 'Thank God that soda was really cold, or I might be having an embarrassing situation arising right now. Man, she looks sexy in those pajamas,' he thinks to himself.

Margaret finally notices Leo's soaked pajama bottoms, and she rushes to the bar, puts down the glass, picks up a towel and hurries back over to Leo. She almost starts to dry him off, but thinks better of it and gives him the towel. "Leo, I'm really sorry. It's just that I... saw you staring at it, and you seemed a million miles away. It really did appear that you were... contemplating taking a drink of alcohol," she tries to explain.

"Margaret, don't worry about it. Your heart was in the right place, and I'm sure it could have seemed that way... because, well... to tell ya the truth..." Leo pauses, closes his eyes and then admits the truth to her. "I have been wanting... a drink lately," he admits, lowering his head in shame as he sits down on the couch.

This is the first time he's admitted this to Margaret since his early days after rehab, when it was almost a constant daily battle to fight the urge. Margaret sits down next to Leo, and puts a hand on his knee, "Leo, what's really going on? This is not all about tonight, is it?"

Leo stares at the slender hand resting ever so lightly on his knee. He's a little shocked that she's touching him like this, because they never touch, and this is the second time tonight that she's touched him in a comforting way. The two of them not touching has always been sort of an unwritten rule of theirs. Well, there have been some quick congratulatory hugs after major campaign victories and of course, when they won the White House both times, but this was different. It was more. He can feel it deep in his soul.

"Well..." he slowly begins. "I'm sure you heard that the President and I disagreed about how to handle the aftermath of the Gaza bombing," Leo looks into her eyes, wondering if she realizes that if it had been her instead of Donna that he too would have been by her side as quickly as he could have gotten there.

"Well, there've been rumors," she returns, as she thinks to herself that even if only half of the rumors she's heard about how the President is treating Leo are true, she's ready to clock him, President or not. But she has witnessed, without their knowledge, some of the things that have transpired between the two of them and she's been shocked at how The President has treated Leo.

"Yeah, I can imagine," he shakes his head. "The President didn't want to retaliate, and I did."

"Leo, you had an office full of people who were demanding the same thing as you, pressing you to do something. The country too, was crying out for the President to do something. You weren't alone in the way that you were thinking."

"Yeah, but... he wanted to try to find a peaceful settlement. He started distancing himself from me especially after... after I said something to him at Camden Yards that I still deeply, deeply regret. I didn't mean for it to come out the way that it did," Leo lowers his head and closes his eyes at the memory of that night in the tunnel. The words he said to his best friend, still echo in his head. 'Your priority should be the security of this country... I think you're gun-shy, Sir. The most important moment of your Presidency and you gonna blow it because you're human, you're a father who almost lost...' He squeezes his eyes tighter, trying to make the memory go away.

Margaret stares at him for a few seconds watching the pained expression on his face, "Leo?" She wants to ask him what he said to the President, but figures that he'll tell her if he wants to, in time.

"Ah... yeah," his mind slowly returns as he raises his eyes to Margaret. "Well as it turns out. The suspects that I wanted him to go after, turned out to be the wrong people, and as you know Camp David didn't bring about the peaceful solution like the President had hoped. So... we both were wrong, but it seems that... it seems that Jed doesn't need me or want my advice anymore and..."

Margaret is surprised that Leo has just referred to the President as Jed. She hasn't heard him call him that since before the first campaign, and even then he usually referred to him as Governor. She can't help but wonder what that signifies. "Have you tried to talk to...?"

"No," Leo says, shaking his head. "I shouldn't have said what I did. I pushed him, and he pushed back harder. He's made his decision, and I'm not going to try and change his mind."

Margaret has tears in her eyes. She can't stand to see Leo like this, and she's very upset with how the President has been treating Leo. It's all coming to a head, and she can't hold it in any longer.

"Leo, I'm well aware of some of the things that have been going on between you two, and... well ... let me tell you that... it's not all your fault. You've given the President everything that you could and more. It's cost you far too high a price and it's... it's... destroying you."

"Margaret please," his eyes and his voice plead for her to stop. He should have known that she would be aware of some of the things that have transpired between the President and himself, because she always seems to know everything that goes on inside the White House and with his life. He also realizes that some of what she's saying is true, but he doesn't want her getting so upset about it.

"It's true," she almost yells. "My God Leo, have you looked at yourself, in the mirror, lately? I've never seen you look so drawn and your clothes... they just hang on you..." Margaret stops. The tears are flowing freely down her face. She knows she's gone too far and gets up off the couch and starts to go to her bedroom.

Leo gets up, follows her and gently grabs a hold of her arm before she can enter her bedroom. "Margaret, please come back and sit down," he pleads as he guides her back towards the couch. "I want you to calm down. You getting upset about this... isn't helping me." Leo can't stand to see her so upset, and he can't remember the last time he saw her cry and it's really getting to him.

"I'm sorry... it's just that I'm tired of quietly sitting by and watching..." she says, as she sits back down, wiping tears from her eyes, "this job destroy you," she says, looking into his eyes.

"Margaret, it's going to be okay, no matter what happens, it'll be fine. Really," he softly tells her.

"How can you be sure?"

"Cause, it'll either blow over or... well... maybe it's just time," he softly explains.

"Time for what?" She asks in a scared voice.

"Maybe it's time for a change," he conveys slowly.

"What kind of change?"

"I don't know for sure, yet," he purses his lips and shakes his head.

"But you're thinking about something, aren't you?" She asks, as she puts a hand on his knee.

"Margaret," he sighs. "I'm thinking about a couple of things right now, and I'm still trying to sort out what I'm going to do. But, as soon as I figure it out, you're going be the first to know."

"Really?" She's surprised that she would come first.

"Yeah, now let's both try and get some sleep. It sounds like I need it, from what I've just heard."

"Leo, I'm sorry it's just..."

"I know... you worry," he smirks, as he stands and offers a hand to Margaret to help her up from the couch.

Margaret bobs her head as she accepts his presented hand.

"And... I do appreciate it, but you need to stop worrying so much. I'm fine. It'll all work out the way it's meant to be," he proposes.

"Oh, so now you're a philosopher?"

"Maybe, but that's for another night's discussion. Right now, you need to get to bed. It's late," he informs her, as he puts a hand to the small of her back and guides her to her bedroom.

"Yeah, it is," she agrees with a yawn. "Sorry," she says, covering her mouth with her hand.

"No problem," Leo drops his hand and stands there next to her. Not wanting to leave her side yet.

"Leo, are you sure you're okay?" She notices his hesitation about going off to his own bedroom.

"Margaret, I thought we covered this already," he groans.

"Well, not good enough to suit me, I guess," she hesitates, "...and there's something else..."

"What?" Leo asks, raising an eyebrow, folding his arms and leaning on her bedroom doorway.

"Well... umm... I think maybe..." Margaret pauses as she wrings her hands. "No, I know that you should start playing poker again on Thursday nights, especially after what you admitted to me here tonight." She stands there waiting for him to yell at her. She's never mentioned his poker games before, other than to remind him that they were on his schedule for the day.

"Yeah, I called someone from the game this morning when umm... I thought..." He remarks, as he unfolds his arms and slides his right hand into his pajama pants pocket. "I told'em that I'd be there next week for the game," he gives her a tight-lipped grin.

"Good," Margaret concurs with the bobbing of her head. "You shouldn't try to handle everything by yourself," she points out to him.

"Like you'd let me," he points out quickly.

"Leo, I just don't want anything to happen to you..." she utters in a soft and caring voice.

"Nothing's going to happen," he sighs. "Between you and Mallory, you'd think I wasn't able to take care of myself."

"Well, you're not. You need both of us and don't you forget it." Margaret wants to confess to him that she loves him and would do anything for him, but she decides against it.

"How can I with both of your reminding me of it all the time," he grins.

Margaret gives Leo a kindhearted smile, "It's my job and besides you'd be lost without the two of us."

"Yeah, I guess I would." Leo glances at the clock on the wall above the baby grand piano. "Look... it's after one; you need to get to bed."

"Yeah, but I'll still get more sleep than I normally do," she enlightens him by stating the obvious.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Maybe one of these days you'll have a job with normal hours." He just hopes that it will always be with him.

"Leo, I'm not complaining. I don't want an ordinary job. I love working for you," she reveals with a blush.

"Good," he flashes her a lopsided grin. "Cause... I... couldn't do it without you. Night, Margaret," he says, turning and walking towards his room. He'd almost told her how he feels about her, but something held him back. It just didn't feel like the right time. 'She needs to get to some sleep, maybe tomorrow,' he thinks to himself.

"Night," she replies watching him desperately trying to conceal his limp as he walks to his room. She closes her door and heads for her bed, hoping for better luck at getting to sleep this time. She lies down, thinks about the closeness they shared tonight, smiles and finally falls asleep.

Leo slowly walks back into his bedroom. He decides not to immediately get into bed, but instead he sits down in the chair, by the window. His thoughts immediately drift to Margaret and what she said to him tonight. She's so concerned about his well-being, and tonight it seemed even more so than her usual rants. It seemed more like that of a lover than a friend.

"Maybe she does feel the same way I do," he mutters out loud. But, he realizes that tonight was not the right time to talk about it. But, maybe he will tomorrow. He lays his head back, trying to figure out a way to tell her tomorrow exactly how he feels. He soon grows tired, gets up and crawls into bed. He closes his eyes and immediately falls asleep.

* * *

Margaret wakes to the sound of her alarming blaring Thursday morning and reaches over and hits the snooze button. She's so tired from staying up late last night and from the emotional drain of yesterday. She lies there staring at the clock, watching the minutes tick by. Right before the alarm goes off again, she turns it off and drags herself out of bed.

As she is walking to her bathroom, she notices a light coming from underneath her bedroom door. She grabs her robe, puts it on and slowly opens the door. She shakes her head when she sees Leo sitting on the couch, working on the crossword puzzle.

"Leo, what are you doing up so early?"

"Habit," he replies, as he pulls off his glasses and sets aside the puzzle he has been working for the past half an hour or so.

"Did you even try to sleep in or did you set your alarm?" She asks with annoyance showing in her voice. "Remember, you're suppose to be relaxing while you're here, too," she slightly scolds him.

"Margaret I never set an alarm. I just always wake up when I should," he nonchalantly informs her.

"That's weird," she wrinkles her nose at him.

"Thanks," he lightly frowns.

"Ah... sorry. It's just a little strange don't you think?" Margaret watches Leo shake his head.

"Been doin' it for years," he tells her with a half smirk.

"Well... most of the time I wake up before my alarm goes off, but I always set my alarm."

"Sure ya do," he says in a patronizing tone as he nods his head.

"I do..." she whines, then realizes that Leo is teasing her and she stops. "Leo."

"Hey, ya want me to order some breakfast?" He asks, standing up.

"Sorry, don't you remember, I told you last night I had plans to meet some friends for breakfast?" She notices his smile fade a little.

"Yeah... ya did, I just forgot." He remembers now about her teasing him about some of them thinking he was handsome.

"Do you want me to order you some breakfast?" She asks, walking back toward her bedroom.

"Margaret I'm perfectly capable of ordering my own breakfast," he informs her with a grating look.

"Well... that's true since you live in a hotel, I'm sure you're quite accustomed to room service," she mocks.

"Margaret," he grouses.

"What?" She asks, rolling her eyes. "It's true, and you wouldn't get picked on all the time about it, from me and Mal, if you'd just move out of that hotel and into an apartment or condo. It's not like you can't afford something nice," she readily points out to him.

"I will, one of these days," he heaves a heavy sigh.

"Right," she calls over her shoulder, heading for her bedroom once again. "And I bet it won't be until we're out of the White House."

"Which might be sooner for me than others," he mutters, as he watches her disappear behind her closed bedroom door. He gets up and walks over to the phone, picks it up and orders his breakfast.

* * *

"Leo, I'm leaving now. I'll be back sometime after five this afternoon," she says, walking out onto the balcony, where Leo is eating his breakfast.

"Okay," he says, looking up from the paper that he's reading.

"I'd meet you for lunch, but today they're serving us lunch in the exhibit hall," she informs him.

"Don't worry about it. I'm going lounge around here today," he says, looking over the top of his glasses at her.

"Boy now, that's something I'd like to see," she lightly laughs. "I don't think I've ever seen you try to relax."

"It's a sight to see," he halfway laughs.

"I bet. Well, I'll see you later."

"Okay, have a good day," he says, looking back down at his paper, pretending to be reading it.

"You too. Bye," she says, turning and walking away.

"Bye," he calls after her, as he peers over the paper and watches her walk out the door. 'Man, she sure looks good in that outfit,' he says to himself and then goes back to reading his paper.

* * *

After Leo has showered, shaved and gotten dressed, he spends the rest of the morning thinking a little bit about his speech, but mostly about how he's going to tell Margaret that he loves her.

At lunchtime, he ventures downstairs to one of the restaurants and has lunch. After lunch, he wanders though some of the shops and then he sits down in the Delta Island area and just watches people walk by. He soon gets bored and heads back towards his room.

After Leo gets to their room, he sits down on the couch and turns on the TV. He turns it to CNN and watches it for a few minutes, but it doesn't take long for him to get disgusted with the anchorman, and he turns it off. He lays his head back on the couch and soon falls asleep.

Leo wakes with a start. He looks at his watch and discovers its just three o'clock. He gets up, and stiffly walks to the refrigerator, and gets himself a tomato juice. He then walks over to the coffee table, picks up his speech notes from earlier and heads for the balcony.

Leo sits down, stares at his notes and writes a few lines but it just doesn't seem to be flowing. He puts his pen down and brings his hands towards his face to rub his eyes. The flash of his ring catches his eye, and he looks at the ring that has encircled his finger and his life for almost forty years. He slowly tugs it off and lays it on the table and stares at it for a few moments. Then he extends his hand and notices the pale band that the ring has left behind. Even when it's gone, he still can't escape its impression.

Leo continues to sit there and think about 'his' Margaret. If he doesn't talk with her soon, it's going to drive him crazy. He looks at his watch and sees that he still has an hour to kill before she gets back. He gets up, stretches and decides to take another walk around the hotel.

It isn't until he's downstairs, passing by the jewelry store that he suddenly realizes that he forget to put his ring back on. He stops suddenly, looks at the bare finger on his left hand. He recognizes that it's his strong love for Margaret that has allowed him to inadvertently leave his ring behind. He knows now for sure that he has to tell Margaret how he feels. She is his strength, his future and the love of his life.

* * *

Margaret spends the entire morning daydreaming about Leo. It's a good thing that Lynette isn't in her morning seminar. She doesn't want anything to interfere with her thoughts of Leo right now.

Margaret manages to make it through lunch without too much teasing from Lynette. Margaret doesn't tell her anything about what happened last night. They wander around the exhibit hall after lunch, picking up brochures and free items. They have the same seminar in the afternoon. Time drags by for Margaret. She's go glad when the speaker finally releases them.

"Margaret," Lynette says for the second time, as they are leaving for the day.

"Huh," Margaret finally replies.

"I said, do you want to go out with me and the girls tonight?"

"Ah... no. I should spend some time with Leo. He's been on his own all day today," she says.

"He's a big boy Margaret. I'm sure he's okay," Lynette laughs.

"You're not funny," she tells her friend.

"Am too," she giggles. "So what do you two have planned for tonight?"

"We'll probably just go out for dinner."

"To some nice quiet romantic little spot I bet," she teases.

"I wish," Margaret mutters, without thinking and then quickly blushes when she realizes that she just said that out loud.

"See, I told you," Lynette laughs.

"Lynette, please." Margaret pleads.

"Okay, I'll stop. I'll see you tomorrow," she tells her as they leave the convention area and head off in the direction of their own rooms.

* * *

Margaret gets back to the room a little after five and sees Leo sitting out on balcony. "Hey, Leo. I'll join you out there in a minute," she calls to him, as she rushes past the sliding glass door.

"Okay, do you want something to drink?" He asks, standing and walking towards the refrigerator. He's been out on the balcony thinking for the past thirty minutes or so, waiting for her to get back, and avoiding the lure of the ring that is still sitting on the table.

"Yes, please. Anything that's cold, and diet would be great," she throws back over her shoulder, as heads for her bedroom. She hurriedly drops the items she got today at the exhibit hall on the chair beside the bed and then quickly uses the bathroom. Then she briefly checks her hair and makeup in the mirror and straightens her clothes a little. She decides to remove her shoes and then hurriedly goes out to join Leo.

Leo hands her a glass of soda as she joins him on their private balcony. Her eyes are immediately drawn to the bare ring finger on Leo's left hand, which is wrapped around her glass. "Thank you," she finally manages to get out, as she sits down and takes a sip of her drink, trying hard not to stare at Leo's empty ring finger.

"You're welcome," he gently smiles, realizing that she's already noticed his missing ring. It doesn't surprise him at all that she notices it right away. "And how was your day?" He asks, watching her take a drink. It's so nice sharing time with someone he cares about. He can't believe how much he's missed having someone to sit and talk with outside of work. He hopes that in the future that they will get a lot more opportunities to do this.

"It was hectic," she quickly recovers. "I went to the exhibitor's hall this afternoon. You should have seen all those people in there trying to gather as much free stuff as they could," she complains, with a frown.

"And I bet you weren't one of them," he says sarcastically. Picturing his 'spend thirty Margaret' getting free pens and assorted other items of mostly junk

"Maybe," she shyly admits. "But at least I wasn't rude about it," she quickly points out, as she sets her glass down on the table and spots his abandoned wedding ring laying there. 'Finally, it's about damn time,' she happily thinks to herself as she softly smiles.

Leo lightly laughs, "No, but since you could probably see over all the others, you knew if they exhibitors had something worth fighting for or not," as he sees her notice the ring and the smile on her face that follows.

"Well... maybe," she laughs slightly. "Being tall, does have its advantages, sometimes." Her height is something that she had come to terms with a long time ago. If other people are bothered by it, she doesn't care anymore. She hopes Leo doesn't mind her being taller than him.

"I wouldn't know," Leo replies with a smile. He's used to being shorter than most women. It used to bother him when he was younger, but he soon learned that his height had nothing to do with his being a man.

They both sit there and stare off into the Delta Island area. Watching people walking about, taking boat rides, and just sitting there and enjoying the scenery below them.

After a few moments of silence, "Hey," he says, in a soft voice. "You were right, ya know."

"Of course I was," she softly smirks and then quickly asks, "About what?" Turning her undivided attention towards him. She notices he has a very determined look on his face.

"This place is something else," 'and so are you,' he adds in his head, still too afraid to say it out loud.

"Yeah, it is. I just love sitting out here, taking it all in." She looks over at Leo and smiles. She loves it even more now that she can share it with him.

Leo looks into Margaret's eyes and gazes intently into them. He decided earlier today, while he was wandering around the hotel and avoiding working on his speech that he couldn't wait any longer. He has to tell her how he feels. It's now or never. He just needs to get the words out of his mouth.

"Leo, you're... staring," she flushes under the intensity of his gaze.

"Yeah... I know, sorry," he lowers his eyes for a second and then looks back at her. "Margaret, I need to tell ya something."

"Leo, are you okay?" She sits up straighter and her voice shows concern as she gives Leo a worried look.

"What is it with you and Abbey?" He smirks, shaking his head. They can both go from zero to worry in point two seconds.

"You talked with Mrs. Bartlet?" She asks with a surprised expression showing on her face. The First Lady hasn't been by the office that much this past year, plus Margaret knows that Leo doesn't go to the Residence anymore unless he's specifically asked to.

"Yeah, she stopped by the office yesterday morning before I left, but I don't want to talk about that right now," he explains, staring deeply into her eyes.

"What do you want to talk about?" Returning his stare. Hoping and praying that she is on the same page as him.

"I umm... I wanna talk about us," a nervous Leo motions with a hand between the two of them. He's thought about what he wants to say to her and he's gone over it a million times in his head while he's been waiting for her to get back from today's events.

"Us?" Her voice cracks.

Leo takes a deep breathe, and starts, "Yeah, you ...and... me," he slowly nods his head. "Margaret, ya know... lately things have been well umm... sorta changing between us and well I've been... I mean this past year sometime I... well I realized that... look I..."

"Leo I love you," Margaret quickly blurts out, as she tenderly places a hand on top of his leg.

"Damnit... Margaret," he softly laughs, while shaking his head. "That's what I was going to say," covering her hand with his and squeezing it gently. He leans in closer, brings his other hand to her face and gently traces her jaw line. He looks attentively into her expressive blue eyes, not blinking at all.

Chills run up and down Margaret's spine at the soft touch of Leo's finger tips on her face, she leans in closer to him, silently giving him permission with her eyes to continue. She's wanted this and much more for years.

"Is it okay if I... kiss ya?" He whispers, leaning in even closer. He feels her breath against his face. He can smell the sweet scent of vanilla from her hair, and he breathes it in deeply, smiling.

Margaret bobs her head; afraid that if she speaks the spell will be broken and she will wake up, only to discover that she's been dreaming.

"Oh, Margaret. I love you, and I have for some time now," Leo says, just before he lightly brushes his lips against hers for a few seconds then he slowly pulls back, and stares lovingly into her eyes. He notices that they have misted over with emotion. He cups her face with both the palms of his hands, his thumbs brushing the tears from her eyes.

"You are so beautiful," he says, gently pulling her face towards his again and then pressing his lips to hers, this time applying more pressure.

"Oh Leo," Margaret whispers, as she willingly parts her lips, allowing Leo to fully explore her mouth. They both scoot to the edges of their chairs, trying to get as close to each other as they can. Leo wraps his arms around her and eventually pulls her onto his lap. They stay like this for a long time tenderly kissing, and caressing, and whispering long withheld words of love to one another.

They eventually pull apart, and Margaret notices a flash of pain wash across Leo's face. "Leo," she says, jumping up off his lap quickly. "Why didn't you tell me I was hurting you?" She scolds him, starting down at him.

"Margaret, it's... not you," Leo manages to stand, flexes his leg and tries to relieve the pain, "It's just... from that long damn plane trip; you know how I get on planes, especially if I can't move around that much. Commercial flights aren't like Air Force One, so my hip's still just a little stiff." He explains, as he limps around the balcony, trying to stop the pain in his hip.

"Leo, you were on the plane yesterday," she quickly points out. "I would think it would be better by now. Why don't I believe that's all that there is to it?" She challenges him, as she crosses her arms against her chest and gives him a squinty-eyed look.

"Margaret, stop it," he gently growls. "I'm fine," moving closer to her, but not touching her. His hip has finally stopped hurting as bad as it had been. With the loose-body of bone fragments and cartilage floating around in there, and sometimes it just gets caught it the socket and periodically causes him extreme discomfort.

"Leo," she retorts in a worried voice, dropping her arms and easing her stance a little. She knows he's not being completely honest with her right now. He's never been one to complain about his leg, but she's one of the few people who is even aware that he's in a lot more pain than he ever lets on.

"Look... I really don't want to talk about it right now. Can we talk about it later, please?" He pleads, reaching out and tenderly touching her on the arm. When she doesn't back away from him, he takes her in his arms.

"Promise me that we'll talk about it later?" She whispers, as she allows him to hold her in his arms.

"Yes, Margaret, I promise. We'll talk about it soon," he says in a soothing voice, as he kisses her cheek.

"Okay, then," she whispers against the side of his face, as she enjoys the feel of his body against hers.

"Like you'd let me get by without telling ya anyway," he murmurs into her neck as he starts to assault her with kisses.

"Leo," she squirms in his arms. His gravelly voice vibrating against her neck, along with the kisses he's applying, are driving her crazy.

"Hmm..." he responds, as his skillful and loving hands begin to wander her tall lanky body.

"Nothing," she gasps. She loves what his hands are doing to her body, and she doesn't want him to stop any time soon. She presses her hips into him and feels his growing desire for her.

"Oh Margaret," he moans into her mouth, when she rubs her body up against his lower region.

After a few more enjoyable minutes of kissing, caressing and exploring each other's bodies, Leo pulls from her arms a little, reaches down, gently takes Margaret by the hand and gazes into her amorous eyes, "Do ya wanna take this inside," he asks, in a low voice.

"Yeah, I do," Margaret bobs her head, squeezes his hand tighter. She looks down at their joined hands and smiles. She gives him a quick kiss and then leads him into her bedroom.

They stand next to her bed, kissing and caressing some more. They both start working on each other's buttons on their clothes. Leo stops, takes her by the hands, "Are you sure?" He asks, looking at the bed and then back at Margaret.

"You bet your ass," she giggles, as she pulls a hand free and promptly gooses him.

"Ouch," he yelps. "You're gonna pay for that," he laughs, as he gently grabs a hold of her and pulls her onto the bed with him.

"I can only hope," she manages to get out before Leo's mouth covers hers and they start down the path to their new relationship together.

* * *

Margaret wakes up and realizes that they both fell asleep after making love. Leo is still asleep next to her, with his arms wrapped snuggly around her. She can't help but smile at the peaceful and contented look on Leo's face. She leans in and brushes a kiss to his cheek. Leo's eyes open, and he pulls her closer to him. "Hey there," he says, grinning.

"Hey, yourself," she responds, sinking further into the bed and enjoying the moment. "I guess we fell asleep."

"Yeah, what time is it?" He groggily asks.

"It's a little after eight o'clock," she softly sighs, as she runs a hand down Leo's arm and then rests it on his hip.

"We better get up and go get some dinner," he suggests, placing his hand on hers. "Any place in particular ya wanna eat at?"

"We could just order room service and find something to do here," she offers, moving her hand to his backside.

"We could," Leo rises up on one arm, and runs a hand down Margaret's shoulder. "If that's what you wanna do."

"I'm kinda too tired to get up and get dressed," she informs him with a smile, plus she has other ideas about how to spend the rest of the evening.

"Okay, we'll eat in tonight, but tomorrow I'm taking you out for a nice dinner," he informs her, with a smile.

"Sounds good to me," she agrees.

"What are you going to do again all day tomorrow while I'm at my seminars?" She asks.

"I need to get more serious about working on my speech, and I'll probably just roam around the hotel again," he says, leaning in and stealing a quick kiss.

"The roaming around part sounds relaxing. You really deserve some down time. You work too hard," she reminds him and then quickly changes the subject before he can rebuff her comment. "Are you getting hungry enough for me to order room service now?" She returns his kiss.

"Yeah, are you?" He says.

"Yeah, lets find the menu," she says getting up off the bed, grabbing her robe and slipping it on.

Leo is still lying in bed watching her. "Margaret, you look magnificent."

"Leo, I'm only wearing a white terry cloth robe," she smirks.

"You make everything you wear look great," he informs her.

"Leo," she softly complains.

"It's true," he reassures her.

"Stop it. Come on lets order something to eat," she says, holding up the menu for room service.

Leo gets up out of her bed, "Okay, my robe must be in the extra bedroom," he remarks.

"Extra bedroom?"

"Yeah, cause this one is ours, now," he explains in his gravelly voice.

"Ours?" She smiles back sweetly.

Leo moves to her side, not embarrassed at all by the fact that he's nude, and pulls her into a hug, "Yeah, ours. Is that okay with you?" He feels so at home with her, like he's never felt with anyone else before her.

"More than okay with me," she agrees, loving the feel of his arms wrapped tightly around her.

"Great, I'll be back in a second," he says, pulling from her arms, giving her a firm kiss and walking toward what used to be his bedroom.

Margaret watches Leo leave the room. 'My God, he's got a great looking butt,' she thinks to herself with a smile, 'and its all mine'.

TBC in Part 8

Feedback is greatly appreciated! Please let me know what you think!!

* * *

Thanks to all of you who have already taken the time to provide such wonderful feedback! I have tried to personally respond to all of it, if I have missed you I am terribly sorry. I had originally planned to post the parts of FEW every three days, but I got so many people begging for it sooner, I switched it to every other day. See, your feedback does count!

* * *


	8. Part 8

* * *

Part 8

See disclaimers in Part 1.

Early Friday morning, Leo wakes up with Margaret still in his arms. Her red hair is fanned out across his chest. He breathes in the sweet vanilla scent of her hair and smiles. He can't believe the contentment he feels. The intimacy that Margaret and he shared the night before was phenomenal. He realizes that his life has changed drastically for the better in the last twelve short hours.

Leo has never experienced this type of closeness with Jenny. Whenever they were intimate, even before his drinking became a problem, as soon as it was over, Jenny would scoot out from under Leo and get out of bed. Then she would shower, put her pajamas on and then crawl back into their king size bed, lying as far away from him as she could. She never wanted to snuggle afterwards, let alone the rest of the night.

During the last few years of Leo's marriage, after rehab, Jenny rarely wanted to make love and only seemed to go though the motions when they did. So after a while, Leo stopped trying. That's one of the reasons he was so drawn to Jordan, he was lonely and needed a physical release. It had been over five years since he'd made love to anyone, but he quickly discovered with Jordan that having sex wasn't making love. He's not proud of why he had pursued Jordan, but she really didn't seem to mind. They decided after a while that it wasn't working for either of them, and they parted amicably.

Last night, after Margaret and he had made love for the first time, and when Leo had eventually moved off of Margaret, she quickly snuggled in next to him, wrapping her long slender body around him, each of them holding on contentedly to the other as they drifted off to sleep.

Leo looks down at the woman in his arms again and can't believe how lucky he is. He realizes now that he's only ever had sex before, even with Jenny, he recognizes now that it had just been empty sex. He has never known any different, not until now. But, last night Margaret and he had made passionate love and he can't believe how incredibly different he feels now. He gives her a tender kiss on the cheek, she stirs in his arms and he pulls her closer to him.

"Morning," she says, barely opening her eyes.

"Morning," he happily replies, kissing her on the lips and then rubbing his nose on hers.

"Did you sleep well?" She asks, returning his kiss.

"Best sleep I've had in years," Leo sighs contently.

"Hmmm... me too," she rises up, looks at the clock and lies back down next to Leo.

"I'm glad," he remarks. "What time is it?"

"It's almost seven," she sadly informs him.

"Really, I can't believe I slept this long," he says with a surprised voice. "I got more sleep last night than I normally get in a week," he admits.

"Must be something in the southern air down here," she laughs, trying to keep the worry out of her voice after his confession about how little sleep he's been getting. She's going to have to make sure that he starts getting more sleep.

"Oh yeah, that I'm sure of," he tells her, kissing he neck.

"Leo, as much as I'd love for you to continue this, I really should get up and shower, I need to be downstairs in an hour." The last thing she wants to do is to get out of bed or leave his arms, but she knows she has to.

"I'll order us some breakfast," Leo offers, stopping his amorous assault.

"Great," she kisses him again and gets out of bed.

Leo lies back, folds his arms behind his head and watches her walk into the bathroom. He closes his eyes and sighs. He knows he should get up and order their breakfast, but what he really wants to do is join Margaret in the shower. He decides however that he should order breakfast, cause there's not a lot of time and he doesn't want to make Margaret late. He knows how she loves to stay on schedule.

* * *

After Margaret gets out of the shower, Leo jumps in and takes a quick one, too. When he gets out and finishes drying, he puts on some causal clothes and then wanders back to the bathroom. He leans against the door jam and watches Margaret getting ready for the day. He smiles at how beautiful she is, even this early in the morning, without her makeup even on.

"Margaret, did ya bring your laptop?" He asks, as he watches her start to put on her makeup.

"Yes, why?" She asks and wonders why he wants to know.

"Well, I need to write my speech for tomorrow night and I thought maybe I could, ya know, use it," he suggests. "That way when you go to check it for me, it will already be input for ya."

"I don't think so," politely informs him, with a knowing smile.

"Why?" He responds.

"Because, you've crashed several White House computers during the past six years and you're not going to do that to my own personal laptop," she informs him with a smirk of a smile. "I saved for over a year for it, and you're not going to kill it with those hands."

"Margaret, I still say those computers were defective," he explains. "Those geeky system administration people keep sticking me with all the defective ones, cause they know how much I hate their blasted computers," he tries to explain. His lack of skill and lack of love for computers is widely known throughout the White House.

"Right," she sarcastically says. "You better not let them hear you refer to them as geeky," she advises.

"I'll keep that in mind. Heaven forbid, if they would revoke my account or something," he smirks.

"Well, they should after all the trouble you've caused them. I bet tech support draw straws to see who has to come to your office when you're having a computer problem," she laughs.

"Hey what about you? Aren't you the one who brought down the White House mail server?" Leo offers with a smirk.

"Hey that wasn't my fault and you know it," she quickly counters, pointing her hairbrush at him. "You know that Jolene Millman caused that problem when she forwarded my email message about the actual calorie count in the raisin muffin that they were serving in the mess. It wouldn't have been a problem if she hadn't replied to the email message and flooded the server, it would have been fine."

"Yeah, well... I still say you caused the White House to be without email for the whole day and that's much worse than a couple of lousy crashed computers on my part. Cause, remember the President wasn't able to a..." Leo abruptly stops; it hurts too much think about, much less, even talk about him and the adventures that they have shared in the past. He still can't believe his best friend has abandoned him like this. He would have understood it if it had happened during his drinking years, but now, it's just too hard to deal with. They've been best friends for over forty years, and he misses Jed's friendship.

"Leo," Margaret quickly moves to his side and places a loving hand on his arm. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nah, we talked enough the other night..." A knock on the their hotel door interrupts Leo. "That's probably our breakfast."

"Let's eat it out on the balcony," Margaret suggests, hoping that the view will take Leo's mind off his problems.

"Yeah, that sounds good," he says going to the door. He has some very fond memories of that balcony, especially from last night.

They sit side-by-side, eating breakfast and stealing glances at each other. Neither of them can seem to stop smiling this morning. Eventually, Margaret looks at her watch and frowns, "I need to get going. Do you want to meet for lunch?"

"Sure, do ya wanna eat downstairs somewhere or here in the room?" He suggests, as he wipes his mouth with his cloth napkin and then takes a drink of his coffee.

"Lets meet by the Delta Island water fountain and then we can grab a quick bite to at one of the eateries there and watch the fountain. You shouldn't be cooped up in this room all day," she tells him.

"I don't mind being here as long as you're here with me," he says in his best gravelly voice.

"Well, I'm afraid we won't actually eat lunch and we'll wind up doing... other things," she softly laughs.

"Ya never know," he says, with a lopsided grin and a twinkle in his eyes.

"Leo, you are so bad."

"Me?" He smirks. "Hey... you're the one who attacked me right after our meal from room service showed up last night. It's a good thing we had a microwave to heat it back up."

"Well, I don't remember hearing any complaints last night," Margaret says, placing a hand on his knee and then slowly walking her fingers up his leg.

"I'm not... complaining," his voice goes an octave higher as her fingers reach their destination. "Margaret," he breathes out. "Ya shouldn't start something that you can't finish."

"Oh, I'll finish it all right, but, it won't be until later tonight," she teases in her best seductive voice, as she enjoys watching him squirm in his chair.

"Margaret," he whines.

Margaret continues to tease him and quickly gets the reaction she's hoping for. "Well, I gotta go, bye," she says as she abruptly withdraws her hand, kisses him on the cheek, and stands up to go.

"Margaret," he moans. "Look at me," pointing at the very noticeable distension in his pants.

"Very nice, Leo. I bet you're really proud of that," she snickers, as she quickly leaves the balcony.

Leo gets up from the table and follows Margaret who is rushing for the door. "You'd better run," he calls after her, moving as quickly as he dares to because his hip is a little sore from all their passionate activities, late last night.

Margaret stops at the door, "Bye Leo, Love you!"

"Bye, I love ya too," he says, as he catches up with her, pulls her in his arms and tightly hugs her. They share a few warm, and loving kisses, and after a few minutes, Leo pulls back from her arms. "You'd... better go," his voice cracks.

"Yeah," she exhales, trying to catch her breath. "I'll ah... see you at lunch." She smiles through her flushed face as she turns and walks right into the door.

"Ah... Margaret, most people open them before trying to walk though them," he smirks.

"Right," she agrees. "I'll try to remember that."

Leo steps over to the door and opens it. He stands in the doorway and watches Margaret disappear down the long winding hallway. He closes the door, breathes a heavy sigh, looks down at himself, and then heads for the bathroom. "I hate to do this to ya, but it's time for a very cold shower," he mutters as he looks down at himself again.

* * *

Once Margaret steps into the elevator she remembers that she was supposed to meet Lynette and some others for breakfast this morning, "Damnit," she says, waiting for the elevator to reach its destination.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this," she mutters to herself as she gets off the elevator. She walks down the hallway that leads to the Convention part of the hotel and promptly runs into Lynette.

"Margaret, did you forget something this morning," she rhetorically remarks, as she gives her a quirk of a smile.

"I know. I know. I'm sorry. I... overslept," she comments, hoping that Lynette will just leave it at that.

"Overslept? And here I was thinking that maybe you and Leo were too busy this morning for you to make it to breakfast."

"Umm..."

"Margaret, before you perjure yourself anymore. I think you should know that I'm aware of what's going on between you and Leo, and I must say that... I don't know if I approve of this new development between you two, if it's going to make you miss our planned outings," she says dryly, with a small smirk of a smile.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about that fact that I sorta saw you two on your 'not so private' balcony this morning," she softly laughs. "I went back upstairs after breakfast to get something that I forgot in my room. Did you know that my room is directly across from yours, only one floor lower?" She smirks.

Margaret's face turns crimson, "Oh?" She softly breathes out.

"Oh, is right," Lynette, teases. "Did Leo spill something on himself this morning, and you were just being the good assistant and trying to what... wipe it off his lap," Lynette giggles.

"Lynette, it's not what you think," Margaret stammers out, still trying to come up with a good excuse for why her hand was in Leo's lap.

"Oh, so you weren't trying to help him...out this morning," she hints. "He sure was squirming around a lot in his chair. Was it hot coffee that you spilled on him?" She laughs.

"Lynette," she gasps at her friend.

"What?" She giggles. "Come on, lets go get a cup of coffee before the first dreadful seminar starts this morning and you can tell me all about last night."

"Oh...I don't think so," Margaret quickly informs her.

"I don't want all the gory details, just the general idea of what's going on between the two of you," she laughingly requests.

"Right," Margaret smirks to her friend.

"You know, Jolene Millman and I have been talking about the two of you these past few years."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, we could see it written all over your face a long time ago."

"You could?"

"Yes, we could. I'm just glad to see that Leo has finally gotten a clue." Lynette tells her friend, knowing that Margaret has held a torch for Leo for years.

"He got more than that, last night," Margaret mutters under her breath, as she follows her friend to the coffee shop. It's going to be a long day of endless questions from her best friend. But, she doesn't really mind, because all that matters now, is that Leo loves her.

* * *

Leo spends the rest of the morning in their room working on his speech. At first, he was worried that he wouldn't be able to come up with something to talk about, but he's surprised that he's had very little trouble getting started with it. His lecture circuit skills come back very quickly. But, he thinks that main reason he's able to relax and write so well is that fact that he spent the night in the arms of the woman he loves.

Leo almost loses track of time, writing his speech and thinking about Margaret. He looks at his watch and decides he had better leave to meet her for lunch. He still can't get over has huge this hotel is. It takes a while to get from their room to the Delta Island area.

As he is heading for the fountain, he sees an advertisement for the General Jackson Show Boat. 'I bet Margaret would love to have dinner on that, and I would love to take her dancing,' he thinks to himself, while he stands there studying the sign. He can't wait to share a dance with Margaret. It's been years since he's gotten to dance with someone he loves. The only people he's danced with lately have been Dignitaries or staff members at official functions. Leo makes a mental note to talk to the concierge, after lunch, and have him book them a reservation for tonight. He smiles at the thought, and then continues on to the fountain.

Leo arrives just a couple of minutes before Margaret. They have a nice lunch together by the fountain, listening to the peaceful music and watching the water dance to the beat. Time flies by quickly and soon, Margaret has to leave to go to her afternoon seminar.

Leo escorts Margaret back up to the convention area adjacent to the Delta Island. He gives her hand a gentle squeeze and leans up to give her a quick peck on the cheek, after looking around to make sure no one was looking. Margaret gives him a sweet smile and returns his kiss.

"See ya later," he winks.

"Love you," she softly whispers.

"Love ya, too," he replies and then turns and walks back toward the hotel.

Margaret stands there for a couple of minutes watching him walk away. She has always loved watching him walk. She notices that his usually slight limp is a little more pronounced in his rolling gait today. She almost goes after him to ask him if he's in having more than his normal amount of pain today, but she quickly decides against it.

Margaret frowns. His limp has been showing a lot more lately. It's something they've never discussed, but Margaret has always wondered about it. She's had to bite her tongue more than a few times lately to keep herself from inquiring about it. She knows that he injured it in Vietnam when he bailed out of his plane with his friend Kenny. But, it wasn't until this past winter that she learned more about the incident when she overheard, okay so maybe she was eavesdropping at his office door, Leo telling the President about his time in the jungle.

She shivers at the thought of him being dragged around the jungle for three days, while bleeding profusely and his lower leg dangling. It's a miracle that he didn't lose his leg. She closes her eyes tightly, trying to get that image of him to leave her mind.

Last night, she saw the scar on his shin and noticed how his leg is bowed below his knee. He must have experienced a lot of pain from his injury. It seems his whole life has been full of pain and loss. 'Well, that's going to stop right now, if I can help it,' she says under her breath.

She bobs her head in agreement with her thoughts, turns and hastily walks into the room where her next seminar is being held. She looks around the room for a good seat and finds one up front. She sits down, folds her hands in her lap and looks at her watch. There are just a few minutes before the speaker should start.

Margaret looks around the room for anyone she might know, there's a few familiar faces, but discovers no one that she really knows by name. She turns back around, focusing on the lecturer. She's never heard her speak before and wonders if she will be any good. She checks her watch again. 'Two minutes till it starts,' she thinks to herself. She picks up her purse, hunts for her cell phone and is about to turn it off when it rings, scaring her and causing her to drop it on the floor.

She scurries after it on her knees, grabs it and flips it open, "Hello," she answers, in a panicked voice.

"Margaret, are you okay?" Leo asks, while he presses the elevator button in the main lobby of the hotel.

"Yeah, the phone ringing just scared me is all," she tells him, as she gets back up into her chair, pulling her skirt down. She notices the lecturer is staring at her.

"Sorry," he softly laughs.

"That's okay. What did you need?" She lightly grumbles, as she pulls her bangs out of her way.

"I really didn't need anything." He teases, noticing the slightly aggravated tone of her voice.

"Leo," she says, louder than she intended to, as she pronounces every syllable in his name.

"I just called to tell ya that I have a surprise for ya tonight," he grins, thinking about the reservation he just had the concierge make.

"Really?" Her responds, as her eyes dance with excitement. She's not used to getting surprises.

"Yeah," he tries to keep the laughter out of his voice. She is far too easily delighted. He makes a mental note to make sure she gets a lot more pleasant surprises in her life in the near future.

"What?" She asks.

"If I tell ya, well... then it wouldn't be much of a surprise now... would it?" He explains in his very distinctive pattern of speaking.

"Well, okay. Oh," she puts her hand to the phone, cupping it and then whispers, "Leo, I need to go, I'm getting evil looks from the speaker. I guess she wants to start talking right now."

"Okay, I'll see ya later," he tells her.

"Bye," she whispers, as she lowers her head. She quickly turns off her phone and puts it back in her purse. She straightens back up and gives the speaker a warm smile.

"Bye," he whispers into the dead line, and then flips his cell phone shut.

* * *

Leo wanders back up to the room and works some more on his speech. He's busy thinking about what he's going to say at the end of his speech, when his cell phone rings, startling him. He looks at the incoming number and sees that it's from the Residence. He hesitates, but finally answers, "Yeah, McGarry here." He lightly growls into the phone.

"Leo where the hell are you?" The agitated voice demands.

"What'd ya mean where am I?" He grumbles into the phone. "I'm in Nashville, remember?"

"Leo, I know that. I mean what hotel are you staying at. I called the number you left with your temp, but they said you aren't registered there."

"Oh, that, well there was a little problem when I got here, it umm... seems the hotel is sold out," he explains.

"And?" The voice on the other end of the phone demands.

"And... since Margaret is staying in a suite with two bedrooms, she well, she sorta offered for me to stay here with her," he logically explains.

"Wasn't that convenient?" The caller smirks.

"Abbey," he snorts. "That's not... oh never mind."

"So, Leo. How's Nashville?"

"It's great," slips out of his mouth before he can stop it.

"Did my ears deceive me or did I just hear Leo McGarry say the word great?" She teases.

"Yeah, I did. What do you need, Abbey? I'm sure you didn't call just to torment me, did ya?"

"Well... as much fun as tormenting you sounds, I did call for another reason. I just wanted to let you know that I'll talked with your surgeon, and I'm ready to discuss the surgery with you when you get back."

"Okay, thanks Abbey," he sighs. He'd almost forgotten about having to have his hip and knee replaced.

"Leo, I went and visited your doctor," she informs him.

"You did. Abbey, you didn't need to go to all that trouble. I bet the Secret Service loved that trip," he smirks.

"Don't worry about them," she informs him, and then her voice grows serious. "Leo, I got a look at your latest x-rays and... it's a wonder you don't walk with more of a limp than you do. Does that loose-body floating around in there, give you much trouble?"

"Yeah, sometimes, but not often," he lies, not really wanting to discuss his limp. It's something that he's been very good at disguising with his rolling gait for years. Very few people know why he walks the way he does.

"Are you still taking the Naproxen that the doctor gave you to help with the pain and swelling?"

"No, I really haven't had too," he lies again. He probably should have taken some this morning with breakfast, but he didn't want to take the meds in front of Margaret.

"Which means... that you haven't told Margaret yet. Have you?"

"Abbey," he growls.

"Okay... okay I'll drop it," she sighs. She knows when not to push him. "But, I was wondering how in the world you managed to get by with making a doctor's appointment without Margaret finding out? Everyone knows how she likes to kept a tight control your schedule," she teases him.

"I sorta... mislead her," he shyly admits.

"You mean you lied?" She laughs.

"Well, I prefer to think of it as creative thinking and good planning on my part," he tells her, with a smile.

"Yeah, well when she finds out that you went to the doctors and she didn't know about it... you're going to be in big trouble," she warns.

"Nah, I can handle Margaret," he feels pretty confident after last night.

"Oh really, since when?" Abbey's curiosity is raised by his last comment and the soft tone of his voice.

"None of your business," he says, hoping, but knowing she's not about to drop it until she gets an answer she likes.

"Leo, did you and Margaret talk already? And you know what I'm talking about, so don't play dumb with me."

"Yeah, we did," he admits. He's actually happy to tell her about it. He just wanted her to suffer a little at first.

"And?"

"She and I... well... we're kinda," he awkwardly stammers, not really sure how to phrase it.

"Oh, Leo's got a girlfriend, Leo's got a girlfriend," she sings loudly into the phone.

"Abbey," he growls, as he shakes his head. "I sure hope nobody's around."

"You're in luck, it's just me here."

"Good," he says, he's not sure that he wants Jed to know yet.

"Leo," Abbey's voice turns serious now. "Have you done anymore thinking about, you know that other thing and what you plan on doing?"

"No, not really." He honestly tells her. His mind has been full of Margaret since he got here. He did talk a little bit with Margaret that first night he arrived, but he really didn't tell her that he was thinking seriously about quitting.

"Have you talked about it with Margaret?"

"A little the first night, but I didn't mention... that I was thinking about... leaving the West Wing," he somberly professes.

"How about last night," she asks, knowing that he's trying avoid something.

"Umm... we never got around to it last night," he admits.

"What did you get around to last night?" She teases.

"None of your business, Abbey," he warns.

"Oh okay," she says, thinking she can't wait for them to get back so that she can question Margaret about them. "Well... you're gonna have to talk with her about your impending surgery before you come back. You don't want it being a surprise when you two come back to work Monday."

"Yeah, I know. I plan on telling her tonight," he softly confides.

"Okay, I'll give Margaret a call at work on Monday and find out when you have an opening in your schedule that day," she informs him, letting him know that he better tell her before they get back.

"Well, I'm sure the whole day is pretty wide open," he sadly discloses.

"Leo, please let me talk to Jed. This is silly and has gone on long enough," she implores.

"Abbey, No. It's up to him. He's the one who... Look... I said something that I probably shouldn't have to him, and he's not going to forget it or forgive me any time soon for it."

"Leo, whether you believe it or not, he's really been worried that something is wrong with you. You should have seen his the look on his face when he found out that you were taking leave. It shocked the entire White House," she informs him.

"Just cause I took leave?" He says, shaking his head. "The White House grape vine is probably just buzzing with rumors."

"Yeah, well... you taking leave is a rarity," she tells him.

"Well, I'll be taking a lot more leave soon," he says, 'And maybe even resigning,' he adds under his breath.

"Yeah, but then everyone will know the reason."

"I guess."

"Leo, you're going to need lots of help, whether you like it or not, so people are going to have to know and you're going to have to be willing to let them help, too," she implores.

"Abbey, I really don't want to talk about it right now. Besides, I need to get back to working on my speech for tomorrow night."

"Okay, but make sure you talk to Margaret about the surgery," she reiterates.

"I will. We've having dinner tonight."

"Leo, you move fast."

"Abbey, it's not like that."

"Okay, I'll call Margaret on Monday after you two get back to work."

"Okay, Bye."

"Have fun and try to relax while you're there. Be good to her and yourself," Abbey smiles.

"I will. Bye, Abbey."

* * *

Margaret gets out of her class about an hour early, because the instructor needs to catch a flight. She hurries back to the room because Leo mentioned something about having a surprise for her when she gets back today. She steps onto the elevator, inserts her card key and presses the button for her floor. She stands there impatiently tapping her foot, "This thing is so slow," she says to herself, crossing her arms, anxiously wanting to see Leo.

Margaret looks at her watch again, checking it for the hundredth time today. She can't believe how fast her life has changed and how slow today went because she was away from him. It was a little less than twenty-four hours ago that they took their relationship to a new level that, before yesterday, she dared only dream or fantasize about.

The doors finally open, she's quickly out of the elevator and down the hall to their room. She inserts the card key and opens the door. She finds Leo sitting on the couch, asleep. He's got his speech on his lap. She quietly shuts the door and walks over to the couch, staring down at him. She thinks about picking up the speech and reading it, but decides she shouldn't.

Margaret smiles at the sight of him. He looks so peaceful with his head is resting on the back of the couch. She softly laughs a little at how short his legs look stretched out and resting on the coffee table. No wonder he's shorter than her. She always wondered why when they sit down they are the same height and well... in bed last night they fit perfectly together, too. She makes a mental note never to say anything to him about how short his legs are; he might be sensitive about it.

Margaret gazes at him for a few more seconds, and then walks into their bedroom and lies down on their bed. She knows he's not been sleeping much lately and doesn't have the heart to wake him and find out what he's got planned for them. She'll just rest for a few moments, while she waits for him to wake up. She really wanted to snuggle with him on the couch, but was afraid that she'd wake him. She quickly drifts off to sleep thinking about Leo and their future together.

TBC in Part 9

Feedback is greatly appreciated! Please let me know what you think!!

* * *

Thanks to all of you who have already taken the time to provide such wonderful feedback! I have tried to personally respond to all of it, if I have missed you I am terribly sorry. I had originally planned to post the parts of FEW every three days, but I got so many people begging for it sooner, I switched it to every other day. See, your feedback does count!

* * *


	9. Part 9

Part 9

See disclaimers in Part 1.

"Margaret," Leo says tenderly, touching her face with his fingertips, and then running his hand though her hair. "God, you're so beautiful," he breathes out softly. 'How did I ever get so lucky?' He thinks gratefully to himself.

"Hmm..." She says, stretching her long frame.

"Hey there, sleepy head," he whispers. "When did you get back?" He asks, gently running his hand up and down her arm.

"A little after four," she yawns. "What time is it?"

"It's..." Leo quickly looks at his watch, "five-thirty. We're gonna to have to hurry to make our dinner reservations," he informs her, as he moves so that she can sit up.

"Where are we eating?" She asks, a little more awake now.

"It's a surprise."

"Leo, how will I know what to wear?"

"Well, I hope you don't mind but, I already picked out something for ya to wear earlier from your closet."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I hung it up in the bathroom for ya. You'll probably need to grab a light sweater too. It might get a little chilly tonight," he suggests.

Margaret gets up off the bed and walks into their now shared bathroom. Leo smiles when he hears the tone of her voice when she call his name.

"Leo," she calls from the bathroom. "You found this in my closet?" She asks, coming back into the room, holding a beautiful light green flowing sleeveless dress that she's never seen before.

"Ah... yeah. Okay... so it was only in there for a short time, but it did hang in your closet for a while after it was delivered today," he explains.

"Leo, it's beautiful. Is this my surprise?" She walks over and gives him a quick kiss.

"No, not really," he informs her.

"It's not?" She has a puzzled look on her face.

"No," Leo says, as he quickly checks his watch again. "Now, why don't you get dressed? We need to get going in about thirty minutes. Is that going to be enough time?"

"Yes, plenty. I'm used to getting ready in a hurry. Remember I work for Leo McGarry and you never know when he's going to call you and tell you to get to the office as soon as you can." She smirks.

"Is that so?" He laughs.

"Yes it is," she lightly laughs. "Oh, by the way?"

"Yes?"

"How did you know what size I wear?"

"Margaret, how can you ask me that after last night?" He smirks.

"Really?"

"Nah, I cheated. I looked inside one of your dresses," he admits, walking over to the closet and picking out a pair of slacks, shirt and sport coat for him to wear tonight.

"Oh," Margaret says, as she heads over to the chest of drawers. "I forgot about something."

Leo turns and watches her. "What?"

"These," she blushes, as she holds up the silk boxers that she bought for him. "I umm... sorta found these Monday when I was shopping."

"Margaret," Leo breathes out as he walks over, takes them, and smiles when he sees that they have Air Force written all over them. "You got these before I got here, now how did you know what size?" He laughs.

"Leo, I've had my hands on your boxers, several times, even before last night," she smirks, as a shiver runs down her body at the memory of last night and early this morning, too.

"You have?" Leo raises an eyebrow.

"Yes silly, remember who normally packs for you," she reminds him, as she starts to move away from him

"Oh, yeah, right," he growls, reaching out and gently taking her by the arm, pulling her to him and hugging her. "I don't think I've ever thanked you properly for all the extra things you've ever done for me over the years," he murmurs into the side of her face, as he starts to assault her neck with kisses.

"Leo," she playfully says, trying to pull from his arms. "You said I had only a few minutes to get ready."

"Yeah, but..."

"But nothing. I want the rest of my surprise," she tells him, kissing his cheek and starts walking toward the bathroom.

"Okay, but can I come watch you get ready?"

"No, cause if you do that we may never get out of here," she advises him as she pulls the door closed behind her.

"Spoilsport," he says to the closed door.

"I heard that," she informs him from behind the door.

Leo laughs, shakes his head and starts to get ready for their evening out.

* * *

True to her word, Margaret is ready in less than thirty minutes. She walks out into the living room and finds Leo waiting for her out on the balcony. He looks incredibly sexy in his brown tweed sport coat and light colored pants. He grins when he sees her.

"Wow, Margaret. You look... incredible," he informs her, moving to her side and offering her his arm.

"Thank you. I love this dress," she says, twirling, showing off her dress, before taking Leo's arm. "Now, are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Not yet, you'll see when we get there," Leo walks them to the door.

Margaret and Leo arrive at the Delta Portico, a short time later.

"Mr. McGarry," the young man in the hotel uniform says, as he opens the door for them. "Your limo's here."

"Thanks," he tells the young man as he slips a tip into his hand.

"Leo, how did he know your name?"

"I talked with him earlier today about arranging transportation for us."

"I bet the only reason he remembers your name is because you gave him a huge tip earlier today, didn't you?" she softly accuses, as she lets Leo guide her out of the hotel.

"Who me?" Leo laughs.

"Yes, you," she says, shaking her head.

"Well, maybe."

The limo driver is standing by the rear door and opens it after the hotel doorman waves at him informing him that his passengers are here.

"Good evening, Sir, Ma'am," he says, opening the door.

Leo helps Margaret into the car. Leo hesitates for a second, "You know where we're going?" He asks the driver.

"Yes Sir," the driver responds, giving Leo a small look of bewilderment.

Leo nods, giving the driver a knowing smile and then gets into the limo. The driver shuts the door, and then gets behind the wheel. He pulls out of the hotel circle, drives a few hundred feet and then takes the first left. He's gone less than a half a mile when he stops.

"Sir, it will be just a few seconds, they're unloading the bus, and then I can pull up to the drop off area," he informs Leo over his shoulder

"Thanks," Leo tells him.

Margaret has been too busy looking around the back of the limo to realize where they've stopped at. She looks out the window quickly; sees the General Jackson sign and then back to Leo.

"Leo, is this my surprise?"

"Yes, you said you loved boats."

"I do, but... Leo we could have just taken the free shuttle here to the dock from the hotel, or we could have even walked this short distance."

Leo notices the driver's slight nod of the head in agreement and almost laughs. He knows the driver's been thinking the same thing.

"Yeah, we could have, but... we didn't," he lopsidedly grins, as he turns his full attention back to the fiery red head next to him.

"But Leo... we never even left the resort property," she mildly complains, as she cranes her neck, looking back towards the hotel.

Leo laughs at her, reaches out with his fingertips, touches her chin, pulling her attention back at him, "Now Margaret... how can I properly court someone on a shuttle with all those people around us," he smirks.

"I think you just like to spend money," she politely points out. "You don't need to impress me, remember... I've already seen the financial disclosures," she softly laughs.

"True, but if we were on the shuttle... then I wouldn't be able to do this," he whispers, leaning over and gently brushing his lips against hers. At first, the kiss is light, but soon it intensifies, as he wraps his arms around her and pulls her closer to him.

Margaret willingly allows Leo access, and her tongue is moving playfully with his, "Oh... I see your point," she happily murmurs into his mouth.

They are so involved in the moment that neither one of them realizes that the limo has pulled up to the drop off area.

"Ahem..." The driver clears his throat, "The drop off point, Sir," he says opening his door and getting out so that he can open the door for them.

"Yeah," Leo breathes out, having pulled himself from Margaret as he tries to get himself under control. He eventually steps out of the vehicle and then reaches in, offering Margaret a hand, to help her out.

Leo turns towards the driver, "Here, go get something to eat while we're gone." He hands him some money.

"Thank you, Sir," the young man says in a very appreciative voice. "I'll be here when you get back," he assures Leo.

Leo nods his head, and then takes Margaret by the arm and leads her down the gangplank and onto the Show Boat.

* * *

They enjoy a nice dinner aboard the Show Boat at a secluded table for two. They spend most of the time talking about each other. Leo learns a little more about her family and her childhood. Leo tells some stories about Mallory and a little about his family. Margaret has met his sisters a few times over the years, but has never really heard much about them. Leo also tells her a little about his mother. Margaret knew that she was dead, but didn't realize that she had died right before she came to work for Leo at the Labor Department. Margaret notices Leo grow a little sad, when he talks about his mother.

"Leo," she softly says, reaching out and placing her hand on his.

"I hate that she died before I stopped drinking. My mom was so worried about Mallory and Jenny. One of the last times I saw her, she got so mad at me and told me I was just like... my dad. I told her she had no idea what she was talkin' about, but... she did. It wasn't long after that... that she had a heart attack and... died." Leo looks up, closes his eyes trying to keep the moisture inside.

"Oh Leo," she says, squeezing his hand.

"I cleaned up my act for a while after that trying to prove her wrong, but... it didn't last long, and well you pretty much know the rest," Leo pauses, returns Margaret's squeeze, "I just... just wish she could've seen that..."

"Leo, I'm sure she was already proud of you and I imagine that somehow she knows that you've put your life back on track. Leo you've done so much, and I'm so proud of you," she tells him, leaning in close and resting her head on his.

"I've screwed a lot of things up too," he quickly admits.

"Who hasn't? Leo, you're only human. You need to stop feeling so guilty about everything. I know you blame yourself for almost every bad thing that's happened to this administration and in your personal life, too," she pauses taking a breath and then continues. "Well, I know for a fact that your divorce... wasn't all your fault," she blatantly informs him.

"Margaret," he frowns.

"Well, it wasn't," she points out to him in a strong tone. "And it's about time you stop blaming yourself," she adds, as she looks at him. "Do you think I was blind and deaf all these years I've worked for you? I always liked Jenny, although she seemed to despise me."

Leo gives her half a frown, "Margaret that's not true," he halfheartedly says, cause he knows that Margaret's right. Jenny had never liked Margaret from the moment that she first met her, and it made it worse when he would come home and sing her praises. He learned very quickly that he couldn't talk about Margaret's silly attics or her efficiency. Jenny became very jealous of Margaret, and she deeply resented the fact that Margaret was able to take better care of Leo than she ever could.

"Jenny was just as wrapped up in all her charities, woman's groups and committees that she headed. She could be very demanding and self-centered and... yes, you did forget your anniversary, and I know how much that killed you and I blame myself too for not reminding you like I had in the past, but Leo... the divorce was not all your fault."

A surprised Leo, stares back at her. He's stunned by her bluntness. Margaret's never said anything about his marriage before, but then again, she wasn't involved in his life the way she is now. "Margaret, it wasn't up to you to remind me of my anniversary and I hate to admit it, but some of what you just said... is true," he motions in the air with his hand. "But let's face it, I'm an alcoholic, a drug addict and a work alcoholic, all of which didn't make things easy for Jenny for a lot of years."

"Yes, Leo you are all those things, but you're also a kind, gentle, loving man with a big heart," she lovingly tells him, as she touches his face with her fingertips, and then traces his strong jaw line. "Leo, I didn't mean to get you upset and I wasn't trying to blame it all on Jenny. I just needed to tell you how I see things, too."

Leo nods his head, "I know and I realized a while ago that... that my divorce wasn't all my fault, but it's still just another failure in my past." Leo looks off to the left, takes a slow deep breath, and then returns his gaze at Margaret as he reveals his biggest fear; "It seems I'm not very good when it comes to... sustaining relationships. I know I hurt Jenny and I failed miserably with Jordan. I just don't want to do any of that to you."

Leo notices a ripple of anguish wash across Margaret's face, and her eyes darken when he mentions Jordan's name. He's always suspected that Margaret didn't care for Jordan, but now he realizes that his relationship with his lawyer hurt Margaret. His heart aches for having caused her pain. He inwardly cusses at himself as he reaches for Margaret's hand.

"Oh Margaret, I'm sorry. I wish I could take back certain things I've done, and you must know that I never meant to hurt you," Leo's voice is full of emotion as he pleads for her forgiveness.

"Leo, I know that. It's just... it hurt... so much to watch you shamelessly flirt with her on National TV like that."

Leo lowers his eyes. He's not very proud of he handled himself with Jordan. He lifts his eyes, "Margaret, I'm sorry. I was... no, there is no good excuse for what happened. But, it was Christmas and... well... the hearings... and she was... in some ways like Jenny, and it was comforting, and I guess, familiar for me to be with someone like Jenny."

"Leo, I had no right to be upset about it. You didn't know that I cared for you," she tells him, as she reaches out and touches his face.

"That may be, but I still want to explain something to you about my relationship with Jordan. It was never like what you and I have already experienced. I was lonely... and I had been for such a long time that... well I needed..."

"Shh..." Margaret puts a finger to his lips. "Leo, we've all done things we regret. I too have made some bad choices for the wrong reasons, so you're not the only one who's made mistakes because they were lonely," she confesses.

"I just wasn't thinking," he shakes his head.

"It's in the past, and we've found each other now. All things happen for a reason. Maybe you needed to have a fling. Didn't you marry Jenny right out of college and didn't you guys date for years before that?"

"Yeah, we did."

"Leo, you've never been able to be free, without the weight of the world on your shoulders. You've had grown-up responsibilities since you were twelve years old after your father..."

Leo nods his head, "I guess... but I never knew how much it hurt you. I'm so sorry."

"Leo, it wasn't fair that you've had to be the man of the house since you were twelve years old that's way too much responsibility for someone so young and then when you did finally leave home it was to go off to war. After which, you come back, put yourself though college, got married, and had Mallory."

"So... a lot of others had to do the same thing," he argues.

"Well, I'm just saying that shouldn't be too hard on yourself for waiting to... well to be... with Jordan. You never had a chance to sow any wild oats," she smiles. "I just wish it could have been with me, but then again maybe we wouldn't be here right now, if we had...before," she decides. "And I like where we're at right now," Margaret says, as she brushes her lips against Leo's.

"Mmm... me, too," Leo agrees, capturing her lips and intensifying their kiss. After a few moments they break for air.

"Good," she contentedly sighs. "Leo, all those things are in your past and what's important is what you do about your future," she reminds him, as she gives him a loving smile.

"Well, I'm kinda hoping you're going to be around to help me with that," he grins back at her.

"Me too."

"Good."

"Yeah," she leans against him. They sit like this for several minutes. Just enjoying watching the riverside go by.

"Hey, would you do the honor of dancing with me? They have a dance floor somewhere on this boat, at least that's what the concierge said," Leo breaks their long silence.

"Yes, I would love to dance with you," she whispers in his ear, then kisses his cheek.

Leo stands, takes her hand and they head off in search of the dance floor.

* * *

They eventually find the dance floor, and Leo takes Margaret by the hand and leads her out into the middle of the floor. There are several other couples dancing and no one seems to notice them. Leo's a little nervous about dancing with Margaret even though they have danced a couple of times before at White House functions, but this is different now. Leo gently takes her in his arms and pulls her tight against him. He whispers in his gravelly voice, "I've waited for a long time to do this." He leans in and places a tender kiss on her cheek.

"We've danced before," she politely points out, as she melts perfectly into his loving arms.

"True, but never this close," he murmurs, rubbing his hand on her back in small loving circles.

"Well, things are a little... different now," she breathes into his ear.

"Yeah, they are," he nods his head a little. "I'm glad they are," he says, brushing a kiss on her lips.

"Me too," she whispers back to him, as she accepts his kiss and then initiates one of her own. She presses her lips firmly against his, and soon they are lost in their own little world on the dance floor.

"Mmm," Leo murmurs, as they break from their kiss, the need for air is the only reason they break apart.

"Mmm, is right," Margaret agrees as she rests her head against Leo's, "Leo, I'm so happy. I still can't believe it's true. I keep thinking this is all a dream, and I'm going to wake up and it's..."

"Shh..." he brushes his lips against hers again, in an attempt to quiet her fears. "It's not a dream and I'm not going anywhere. I promise," he whispers as he stares into her eyes.

"Okay," she bobs her head. "I believe you," she brings her hand to his face and gently traces his jaw line. Then she leans in and kisses where her fingers have just touched.

Leo pulls a little from her arms, "Margaret, umm... we need to stop," he whispers in his raspy voice.

"Stop dancing?" She asks, with a puzzled expression.

"No, umm... I'm having ah... slight problem," he tells her, as he quickly glances down at himself and then back up at her.

"Are you tired?" She asks with a baffled tone, still not catching on to what he's referring to.

"No, I'm definitely not tired," he smirks with an impish grin as he pulls Margaret closer.

"Oh," finally noticing or actually feeling what he's been talking about. "That doesn't seem very slight to me," she coos into his ear as she pushes her hips back against him.

"Margaret," he growls, "you're not helping."

"Now, who's the spoilsport," she softly laughs.

"Let's just concentrate on dancing and I'll umm... try to think pure thoughts," he suggests, rolling his eyes.

"Do you really think that will work?" She quietly laughs.

"No, cause, yesterday the only thing that helped was a cold shower and well... I somehow don't think that's an option here," he says, looking around the crowded dance floor making sure no one's noticed that his pants are protruding in the front. He shakes his head at his situation. It's been years since he's experienced this type of problem in public.

"Well, I guess we could always find an abandoned passageway down below," she whispers into his ear, "and alleviate your problem."

"Margaret, you're not helping," he throatily growls, trying to concentrate on calming down.

"Sorry," she apologizes, shrugging her slender shoulders and giving him a tight lipped smile. "Okay... I'll try to be good. But it's going to be hard," she snickers.

"Margaret," he groans at her choice of words.

"Okay, I'll stop. I promise," she bats her eyes at him.

"I wish you would."

"So, do you want to talk about what Mallory and her new boyfriend might be doing right now?" She breaks out giggling, even though she was trying her best to keep a straight face.

"Margaret," he sputters, as he stops dancing. "I never wanta talk about what Mallory might or might not be doing with her boyfriend and I especially never want to think about what Mallory and her boyfriends are doing together."

"Leo, you know she's not a little girl anymore and I'd also like to point out... that I'm somebody's daughter too, you know," she informs him with a smirk of a smile.

"I know. It's just... difficult for me to let go. It seems like only yesterday that she was my little girl dancing on top of my feet," he smiles warmly at the memory.

"I bet you just ate that up."

"Yeah, I did. Its one of the few really good memories I have of Mallory being little. A lot of my memories are tarnished..."

"Leo, let's not go there. You've come a long way and Mallory loves you and is so proud of you," she tells him, as she pulls him closer.

"I know. It's just..."

"Shh... Lets just dance and enjoy the moment," she suggests, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Okay," he agrees with a sigh. He presses his face into her hair and breathes in the now familiar scent of her shampoo, and the corners of his mouth turn upward.

They continue to dance without speaking for a while. Sometimes just barely swaying to the music. When the song changes, the tempo of the music is a little faster. They start to move to the faster beat, when all of a sudden Margaret notices a glint of pain flash across Leo's face as he lurches a little to the right.

"Leo, are you okay?" She stops dancing and pulls from his arms.

Leo has no choice but to stop. His earlier problem is soon forgotten, due to the overwhelming pain in his hip. He tries to keep the pain from showing in his face, but fails miserably. "Yeah, I'm fine," he lies through clenched teeth.

"Leo, what wrong? And don't give me that 'I'm fine' routine," she warns him, as she takes a hold of his hand and guides him slowly off the dance floor. He's really limping now. She makes him sit down and then takes the seat next to him.

"Is it your leg?"

"No, it's more my hip. It's sorta gets out of place," he grimaces.

"Leo, does this happen often?"

"Yeah, lately it has," he says, still working on getting the hitch out of his hip. He keeps moving his leg and rubbing his hip. After a few seconds, he finally gets his hip in a position that stops it hurting him as much. He instantly relaxes.

"Is it better?" Margaret asks.

"Yeah," he sighs. "Margaret, I probably should have already told you about this," motioning to his hip, "before we became involved but..." Leo keeps flexing his hip, trying to get the loose-body completely dislodged from his socket.

"What Leo? What is it? You're scaring me," she lays a hand on his arm. She knew this was too good to be true.

"Margaret, calm down," he pleads. "It's not that bad. But, I do have some... problems that need to be taken care of surgically, and sooner rather than later." He looks into her eyes, trying to get her full attention.

"Leo," her bright blue eyes mist up almost immediately and her bottom lip starts to quiver.

"Shh..." he whispers, as he takes a hold of her hand and squeezes it tightly. "It's gonna be fine."

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

"Okay, so what to you need to have done?" She asks, trying to calm herself down.

"I need to have my right hip, and knee replaced."

"Both?"

"Yes and I'm gonna need lots of help, and therapy afterwards, and you know how I'm going to hate that," he explains.

"Leo, what about the surgery?"

"Well... you've probably realized that I've been having a lot more pain lately, and well I haven't been able to conceal my... limp as well I normally can," he says, as he lowers his eyes.

"Leo, it's okay. Your limp doesn't bother me," she reaches out and touches his chin, forcing him to look at her.

"Well, I just don't want you to think that you're saddled with an old man with a limp."

"Leo, how could you think that?"

"It's just something that... someone said to me once and well... I guess I worry you'll feel the same way."

"Leo who could hurt you like this... oh, God Leo... did Jenny say that to you?" Margaret asks, realizing that she had to be the one who could have hurt him so deeply.

Leo slightly nods his head and then turns away as he thinks about how Jenny never could stand to look at his scar on his leg. It really hurt Leo that she wasn't able or willing to deal with it.

"I'm sorry she said that. Leo, look at me," she pulls his chin back towards her. "If this surgery leaves you with a permanent limp, we will deal with it, together. Never, and I mean never think that you having a limp would bother me in any way. I'm in love with you. It doesn't matter to me. I just can't stand to see you in pain all the time from your leg and hip."

"Okay," he softly responds, as he looks into her eyes and sees years of love and understanding in them.

"What did the doctor say about the surgery? Will it help your pain?"

"Yeah, "he says, "I should be relativity pain free and the chance of a limp is slight, but it's still a chance," he tells her.

"That sounds encouraging," she smiles, as she wonders what else about this he's not telling her.

"Yeah," he agrees, hoping for some relief from the persistent pain that he has been experiencing these past few months.

"Why do you have to have both your knee and hip replaced?" She asks. "I would think your knee would be the problem, since you know... because of the location of your previous leg injury."

"Yeah, but I've waited too long for the knee replacement, and it's messed up my hip now too. Here," he stands, takes a hold of her hand and places in on his hip as he takes a step forward.

"Oh, Leo" she gasps, as she feels the clunk and grinding as he takes a step.

"My hip joint socket is worn out and there's a 'loose foreign body' floating around in there and when it gets stuck in the joint well... you just saw what happens," he motions out towards the dance floor.

"What's loose-body?"

"It's a piece of bone fragments and maybe cartilage from the grinding when I walk," he explains.

"Oh," she scrunches up her face. "That sounds painful."

"It can be when it gets caught in the joint," he explains. "Oh and before I forget. I talked with Abbey about this before I left, and she wants to talk to the both of us after we get back."

"You told Mrs. Bartlet," she's unable to keep the surprise showing in her voice or on her face.

"Well, she sorta corned me at a weak moment," he explains.

"When was that?" She asks.

"Tuesday morning, just after... we talked," he sighs.

Margaret thinks back to what happened Tuesday morning, "Oh... Leo I'm so sorry I put you though that. I really..."

"Margaret will you please stop," he says shaking his head.

"When did you see the doctor?"

"Monday," he admits, slightly cringing inside.

"You had an appointment this past Monday?"

"Yeah."

"Leo," she squeals. "You made the appointment yourself?"

"Yes," he knows what's coming next.

"And you're not supposed to do that, are you?" She prompts him again. "Do I need to explain the rules on making appointments again? Are you confused about them?"

"Haven't we been though this routine before?" Leo rolls his eyes.

"Yes, but apparently you still haven't learned your lesson," she smirks. "Leo, why did you hide your doctor's appointment from me?"

"Cause... I wasn't ready to tell anyone and well... you worry too much about me, and I didn't need you driving me crazy with all the other stuff going on. Plus, I thought you might try to meddle with what's going on between me and the President."

"When have I ever gone to the President behind your back?"

"Margaret," Leo growls and raises an eyebrow at her. "Let's just say I'm aware of a few instances and leave it at that."

"I only ever did it for your own good," she tries to explain.

"I know, you were only trying to help when I was drinking and taking pills, but I don't want him trying to fix things just because of this." Leo stands and points to his hip.

"But won't Mrs. Bartlet tell him?"

"Nah, I told her not to, besides she's pretty pissed at him about how he's handling things."

"Really, I figured she'd be on her husband's side," Margaret says as she moves to Leo's side.

"It's not that she doesn't side with him about wanting a peaceful resolution to the Gaza situation, it's more like she's not happy about how he's ...dealing with... me."

"Well, there's a lot of that going around," she huffs, as she crosses her arms. "He's being an..."

"Margaret," Leo stops her. "He's the President and even if we don't agree with him, we still need to respect him and the office."

"You're right," she agrees. 'But he's still being an ass,' she thinks to herself. "Let's get back to your surgery."

"I knew it was too good to be true," Leo laughs.

"Okay. So how soon can it be done, and how much work did the doctor say you would miss?"

"Well, I'll be off six to eight weeks. It depends on how things go with physiotherapy after surgery, and Abbey might be able to give us a better time frame on Monday when we meet with her. She met with my surgeon this week and took a look at my latest x-rays. He might have told her when he has room in his schedule to fit me in."

"Well, I'm going to put in for a leave of absence for that same period of time," Margaret informs him rather matter of factly.

"Margaret, there's no need for that," he implores.

"You're going to need lot's of help, you said that yourself," she quickly points out.

"But I meant I was going to have to hire a nurse or somebody."

"Now you won't have to."

"But..."

"But nothing, Leo. I want to help. Besides, do you really want a stranger helping get you dressed and stuff?"

"Well, when ya put it that way. But, I'm going to personally pay you the same salary you get at work and that's final." He tries to leave no room for argument, even though he knows she'll fight him about it.

"Well, we'll see."

"Margaret I've made up my mind," he confirms.

"I'm sure you have," she patronizes him.

They are still talking about it when the boat docks at the landing. Leo guides Margaret towards the waiting limo.

"Did you have a good time?" The driver asks.

"Yes," they say in unison.

Leo helps Margaret into the back of the car and then turns to the young driver. "Hey, could ya take the long way back?" Leo asks with a smile as he slips the driver a hundred dollar bill.

"Yes, Sir," the driver happily announces with a wink as he runs around and starts the car, and puts up the privacy screen. Leaving the two lovebirds alone to enjoy the end to their romantic evening together.

To be continued in Part 10a

Feedback is greatly appreciated! Please let me know what you think!!

* * *

Thanks to all of you who have already taken the time to provide such wonderful feedback! I have tried to personally respond to all of it, if I have missed you I am terribly sorry. I had originally planned to post the parts of FEW every three days, but I got so many people begging for it sooner, I switched it to every other day. See, your feedback does count!

* * *


	10. Part 10 The End

Part 10

See disclaimers in Part 1.

"Margaret," Leo calls to her from the couch.

"Yeah," she answers, as she walks into the living room. She's already changed her clothes and has her skimpy silky pajamas on.

"Does that sunken tub have jets," he asks, motioning towards the master bathroom.

"Yes."

"Well," he shifts uncomfortably on the couch. "I think I'm gonna get in it and soak for a while."

"Leo is your hip still bothering you?"

"Yeah, a little."

"So the other night when you said you were going to get into the hot tub, was that because of your hip?"

"Yeah," he answers, thinking that he might be getting a lecture from her.

"Okay, I'll go start the water."

Leo gets up off the couch, goes to the bedroom, takes his clothes off, gets on his robe, and walks into the bathroom. He moves over behind Margaret and pulls her into his arms, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she says, as she turns in his arms.

They stand like this for a few minutes, waiting for the tub to fill.

"Leo, the tub is full," she tells him.

"Already," he sighs, as he reluctantly pulls from her arms, drops his robe and slowly eases himself into the tub.

Margaret turns on the jets for him, "Is it too hot?"

"Nah, it's fine."

Margaret turns to leave.

"Why don't ya stay here and keep me company,' he says, as he reaches for her hand.

"I really should start working on getting your speech typed up," she tells him.

"Can't that wait until tomorrow?"

"I guess, but you won't have time to make fourteen revisions that way, so are you sure?" She laughs.

"Margaret," he grumbles, lying back in the tub.

"Well it's true."

"Maybe," he shyly admits. "I just like to get things right."

"I know you do, but Leo this is just a speech to FEW, not Congress, okay?"

"I bet the majority of these women are smarter than most members of Congress," he smirks.

"Well, you might have a point there." Margaret sits down on the tub and puts a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Is the hot water helping any?"

"Yeah, I feel much better already."

Margaret positions herself behind him, on the edge of the tub and starts to rub his shoulders.

"Mmm... that feels so good," he moans. "Why haven't you offered to do this for me before at work?" He grins.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I have thought about it before, and even more than a few times in the past couple of years."

"Thought about it or... fantasized about it?" He asks, in a low soft voice.

Margaret's face turns red, "A little of both, I guess," she admits shyly.

"Me too," he informs her, with a smile.

"Really," she says in a surprised voice. "You've fantasized about... us?"

"Yeah," he breathes out.

Margaret stops massaging his shoulders and slides around the side of the tub to face Leo. "So what kind of fantasies have you had about me, at work?"

"Margaret," he growls. Leo's ears have a slight red tinge to them now. "I really don't want to talk about them."

"Oh, so there's more than one," she teases.

Leo nods his head. He's never talked with anyone about his fantasies before. Jenny was never very adventurous sexually and thought such things were morally wrong. She never seemed comfortable with her sexuality. Sure they had sex, and it was good for a while. It wasn't as natural for Jenny, as it is with Margaret.

Margaret leans over and whispers in his ear, "Oh really now. Why don't you tell me about one of them?" She coos into his ear, causing him to shiver.

"Margaret, I've... never umm... talked about anything like this with anyone before," he sheepishly admits.

"Leo, it's okay. We don't have to, if it bothers you or makes you uncomfortable," she reassures him.

"No it's not that... it's just well... I'm not sure how to go about it," Leo looks up at her. He trusts her completely but this is new territory for him.

"How about if I start off by asking you something about one of them," she suggests.

"Okay."

"Did you have any of these fantasies at work?"

Leo nods his head.

"Did any of them occur after talking to me on the phone?"

"Yeah," Leo nods his head again as he softly answers.

"Did any of them involve this tub," she whispers into his ear. She hopes that they did, cause she has fantasized plenty about the two of them in the tub together.

"Oh yeah," he breathes out.

"You know, I believe I've mentioned before that this tub could hold like... four people."

"I do seem to recall you saying that," he agrees, with a smile, starting to get more comfortable with their sensual conversation.

"Then, two should be rather comfortable in there, don't you think?" Margaret asks, standing and starting to unbutton her pajama top. Leo's eyes intently watch her fingers undo each button. "Well, my back is bothering me a little bit, maybe I could join you in there," she informs him.

"I wish you would," he murmurs.

Margaret continues on and slides her silky pajama shorts off. She peeks into the water in the tub and grins at the effect this conversation is having on Leo. She slowly sits on the edge of the tub and leans over to kiss Leo. He takes her face in his hands and pulls her closer. They explore each other's mouths with an enthusiastic fury.

Leo hands leave her face and travel over her body causing her extreme pleasure, as she moans into his mouth. He takes hold of her arms and pulls her slowly into the tub, causing the water to overflow and go everywhere on the ceramic floor.

"Leo, I'm gonna hurt you," she says, after she winds up in his lap.

"Shh..." he says. "I'm fine. Besides you are even lighter in the water."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh yeah, this is more than fine," he says as his hands wander again.

"Mmm...okay," she barely gets out as he pulls her closer to him.

Leo whispers the details of his most recent fantasy into her ear.

"Oh, I think I can arrange that," she says, as she moves her position.

"Great," he says as he lets her take control of the situation.

"What are assistants for?" She coos as she moves over him and takes him to new heights.

"Margaret," he moans, as he enjoys what she's doing to him.

Several minutes later, Margaret and Leo are sitting side by side in the tub. "You've got quite a mess to clean up on the floor?" Leo tells her, stroking her arm.

"Me, you're the one who had the great idea to pull me in. I think you should be the one to soak up all the water," she laughs.

"Margaret, my hip," he says as he tries to play the sympathy card.

"Well it didn't seem to be bothering you a few minutes ago," she points out with a smirk.

"Well that because you made me forget all about it," he grins.

* * *

Leo spends most of Saturday morning just relaxing and lying on the bed next to Margaret, watching her type his speech into her laptop. Margaret is pleasantly surprised that he only revises it twice. Margaret goes down to the office center in the hotel and prints out his speech. When she gets back, they enjoy a late lunch on the balcony. After lunch, they remain on the balcony, just holding hands in silence and enjoying the sights and sounds from the Delta Island below. After a half an hour or so of quiet solitude, the hand holding turns to kissing and caressing, and they soon abandon the balcony for the seclusion of their bedroom.

* * *

Leo wakes to find Margaret staring at him, "Hey," he smiles.

"We both fell asleep again," she informs him.

"I figured."

"I should get up and shower," she says, running her hand down his arm.

"What time is it?"

"It's a little after three. We have to be there at five thirty," she tells him, anticipation his next question.

"Okay, I'll shower after you're done," he leans in kissing her.

"Okay, I won't be long," she says, getting off the bed and heading for the bathroom.

Leo waits until he hears Margaret turn on the water in the shower, then he gets out of bed, throws on his boxers and heads for the couch. He needs to makes some quick additions to the end of his speech. He's already made some notes, but he needs to transfer them onto the printout that Margaret did for him earlier today, and he's also thought of something else that he wants to add. Time passes quickly, without him realizing it and he's still busy writing when Margaret, wrapped only in a towel, steps into the living room area.

Margaret notices Leo scrawling some notes at the end of his speech, "Do I need to get my laptop back out and make some more changes for you? I have time to get it printed out before we need to go," she says, as she sits down next to him on the couch, nosily leaning over trying to look at what he's writing.

"Nah, just making some additions to my closing comments. No reason for ya to go to any trouble," he quickly points out, as he holds the papers against his chest. "Hey, you're still wet," he complains, as water drips on his bare leg.

"Sorry," she breathes into his ear.

"Somehow... I don't think you're too sincere," he laughs, as she lets her wet hair drag across his bare chest. "Stop that," he murmurs, as a chill runs though his body.

"You liked it when I did this earlier," she reminds him, looking at him with innocent eyes.

"Yeah, but your hair wasn't wet," he says, as he tugs on the corner of her towel, causing it to come undone.

"Leo, you're insatiable," she laughs, as she tries to escape his advances. "We don't have time. Besides, you still need to shower and I need to finish getting ready," she points out to him, grabbing a hold of her towel and wrapping in back around herself as she gets up off the couch.

"Hey, you're the one who started this," he reminds her, dropping his papers face down on the couch, as he follows her and pulls her into his arms. "Besides, you could always join me in my shower," he whispers into her neck, as her effect on him is starting to become very apparent against her thigh.

"I just showered," she points out.

"Don't ya think ya could have missed a couple of spots maybe?" His voice goes low as his hands start to explore her body, and he releases her towel and it slips to the floor.

"Well..." she hesitates, taking a few seconds to enjoy his persuasive measures, "you are the boss."

"Damn straight," he agrees.

"Leo, what have I said about your cussing," she laughs, as he guides her towards the bathroom.

"Margaret," he mockingly growls, as he stops in the bathroom doorway and presses his body against hers.

Leo's raspy voice causes a shiver to run up and down Margaret's spine; "I'm just saying..." she stops, as Leo's lips capture hers.

"You were saying?" Leo says, after he breaks his long seductive kiss.

"Not a damn thing," she says with a quick breath, as she takes him by the hand and pulls him into the bathroom and towards the shower stall.

"I'm glad you see it my way," he smirks.

"You bet your ass," she says, turning on water and adjusting its temperature.

"I think we need to have a talk about your potty mouth," he says, joining her in the shower.

"Later."

"I can live with that," he says, taking her in his arms and then proceeding to drop kisses on her shoulders as he helps her wash away residual thoughts that they should be doing anything else right now.

* * *

A couple hours later they arrive early for the dinner before the closing ceremonies at the Grand Presidential Hall, show their passes and are ushered to their seats. Margaret slows and her back stiffens as she sees her name card next to Leo's at the head table.

"Margaret, what's wrong?" Leo quietly asks, putting a reassuring hand to the small of her back.

"I shouldn't be sitting up here," her face showing panic.

"I requested that you be seated next to me," he informs her.

"Leo!"

He can't help but smile at her, "Hey you got me into this, it's only fitting that you are stuck up here beside me," he softly laughs.

"But... I'm not speaking or chair of any committee. I belong out there in the crowd," she protests, pointing at the tables facing their direction.

"Yes, but you are my companion and you belong next to me," he tries to soothe her, as he takes her hand and gives it a loving squeeze.

"That's sweet, but what are people going to think?" She asks in a worried tone.

"I don't give a damn about what people think," he softly stresses. "I love you and that's all that matters."

"But..." she splutters, pulling her hand from his.

"But what?" He asks.

"Well for one thing. There are reporters here tonight and they're going to know that something's going on between us, since you can't seem to keep your hands to yourself or that look of intense satisfaction off your face," she points out with an anxious look.

"So," Leo comments.

Margaret doesn't get a chance to argue anymore, because she notices President of FEW is heading their way. "Leo, here's come the President."

"What the?" Leo whips his head around expecting to see Jed, but doesn't see him. He quickly turns back to Margaret, "That was not funny," he growls.

"I'm sorry," she apologies quickly. "I meant the President of FEW."

"Mr. McGarry," the short round woman says, extending a hand as she moves between Leo and Margaret, almost pushing Margaret out of the way. "I'm Carol Brown, President of FEW. I'm so glad you could help us out here tonight."

"Please, call me Leo," he says, as he shakes her hand, "Well, you have Margaret to thank for that," he informs her as he gives a pleasant smile and motions towards Margaret, who is now standing behind her.

"Yes, Margaret," she says, as she turns and extends a hand to her. "Susan has told me all about you. Thank you so much for arranging for Mr. McGarry to be here to night."

"You're welcome. I really didn't do much. All I did was call him..."

"And we appreciate that," she interrupts Margaret and then turns around giving all her full attention to Leo. "Were you able to get a room close by, since the hotel is sold out?"

"Yes, Margaret took care of me," Leo smiles, as he quickly glances at Margaret who is giving him a dirty look and trying her hardest not to turn red.

"Good," she smiles sweetly to Leo. "I wish I had more time to talk with you, but I need to make sure that we are ready to get this thing started. I hope we'll get a chance to talk later," she says, as she shakes his hand again and turns and walks off.

"Leo," Margaret hisses.

"What?" He innocently replies.

"You know what."

"All I said was that you took care of me," he smirks.

"Yeah, well... I knew what you were referring to," she rolls her eyes at him. "Are you trying to get caught?"

"Margaret calm down," he says, guiding her back to their seats.

"And did you see how she was shamelessly flirting with you?" She asks with her eyes flashing green with jealousy.

"She was?" He raises an eyebrow with surprise and then shakes his head at Margaret's jealousy.

"She was," Margaret bobs her head, as she takes her seat that Leo pulled out for her.

"Well... it doesn't matter; cause she's not my type anyway. I prefer tall mouthy red heads," he leans over and tells her with a smirky grin, as he sits down next to her.

"And I prefer short sandy blondes who love nothing better than to bellow my name at least twenty times a day," she teases back.

"Yeah, well then it sounds like we're the perfect match," he affirms, as he reaches under the draped table, finds her hands fidgeting in her lap, he takes one and lovingly squeezes it.

"Yes we are," she agrees, as she allows him to hold her hand until their dinner is served.

* * *

The dinner is served, and Margaret calms down a little, as she tries to concentrate on Leo. He's been giving her reassuring looks and touching her leg whenever he gets a chance, trying to soothe her. She's still not comfortable sitting at the front of the whole room on the dais, but at least Leo is by her side, and in her life now in a way that she could only have dreamt about until a couple of nights ago.

Lynette has been trying to catch her eye since she noticed that Margaret was sitting up front, but Margaret's afraid to look at her friend for very long. She suspects that she's in for some good-natured teasing from her again when they all get home. Finally, Margaret relents and gives her more than a quick glance and is pleasantly surprised to get a warm smile and a quick little thumbs up from her. Margaret almost laughs at the little gesture. Leo notices the friendly exchange between them and gives her leg a loving squeeze. He's about to say something to her, when the President of FEW starts the evening's ceremony.

"I'd like to thank all you for coming tonight, and for making this past week one of the best conventions we've ever had." Polite applause follows her opening remarks. She goes on to make some more observations and comments about the success of the week. After about ten minutes of summing up the week's events, she turns towards Leo.

"We are very fortunate tonight to have Leo McGarry, Chief of Staff to President Bartlet, as our guest speaker. Please welcome him," she requests, as she motions for him to approach the podium.

Leo gets up from his chair and walks to the podium. "Thank you," he tells the crowd and then he acknowledges the President of FEW and the organizing committee, then he quickly starts into his speech.

Margaret intently watches Leo as he begins his speech. She has always loved listening to him give lectures. He is such an animated speaker and captures the crowd's attention very quickly. Margaret scans the crowd of women and finds them already under his control.

Margaret smiles and shakes her head ever so slightly, because she knows that Leo has no idea whatsoever what kind of an effect he has on women. She's overheard several comments from women over the years, and she has to agree with them. There is something incredibly sexy about Leo McGarry. Her personal list includes: his gravelly voice, his honey colored eyes, that impish grin of his that he doesn't flash often enough, and the way he stands with his hands in his pockets. 'Man is it getting hot in here,' she thinks to herself as she tries to regain her composure.

Margaret lets out a small sigh as she recalls several other audiences, over the years that she has watched Leo captivate. Her mind drifts for the next few minutes recalling past times on the lecture circuit that she heard him speak. After several minutes, she is brought out of her light daze when she hears Leo come to the end of his speech. Margaret turns towards him, expecting him to stop, as she gets ready to start clapping.

"One thing I do want to mention is that success doesn't always mean rising to higher positions. Success can be found in doing any job well and helping others do theirs. Some people dedicate their lives to helping others succeed. I am one of those lucky people who has been the benefactor of one such person," Leo pauses, glances towards Margaret and is not surprised to find her blushing.

'Leo,' she mouths inaudibly, shaking her head.

"I'm sure most of you are aware of my past problems and well... without my assistant I wouldn't be standing here talking to you today. For some reason she stayed, when others ran. She helped me keep my job as Labor Secretary even though I never asked her to. She herself could have risen high in the government ranks, and I do know of several job offers that she's had over the years, and each time she's chosen to stay. I can never repay her for her unyielding loyalty and dedication," he informs the banquet hall full of women who are hanging on every word he utters.

Margaret gives Leo a cautiously shy look. She never knew that he was even aware of the job offers she's received over the years. They came from several branches of the government and a variety of companies in the private sector. She briefly wonders why he's never asked her about them. Maybe he's needed her more than either of them ever knew. She couldn't leave him while he was drinking; he needed her to take care of him. After rehab, he still needed her to help keep him sober and organized. He needed her during the campaign, cause she was the only person who could keep up with him. When they got to the White House, he still needed her, and then there were the times when she alone kept him on the straight and narrow, and healthy. And now, well now, he needs her just like she's apparently needed him for years.

"Ladies, I'd like you to meet my assistant, Margaret McGuire," Leo says, as he motions towards Margaret, wanting her to stand up and be recognized for all that she is, "My assistant, my caretaker, my friend, and very recently... the love of my life," Leo says, in a soft raspy voice, full of emotion.

Margaret can't believe her ears. Leo just announced to the room, and the world that they're together, as in... a couple. She knows that her light blush has now turned a deep crimson red. She notices some quick glances from some of her friends, who had no idea that she even worked for the White House Chief of Staff. She somehow manages to get up out of her chair and is still standing when Leo comes to her side. He takes her in his arms and hugs her. They stand there for a few seconds listening to the crowd's applause. Eventually Leo pulls way, cups her face with one hand, gives her his best grin and heads back for the podium.

"So, once again, thank you for inviting me here tonight and I hope that you've all found some valuable tools this week to help you find success in your dynamic careers within the Federal government." Leo turns to the President of FEW, gives her a quick smile and then heads back towards 'his Margaret.'

The crowd stands, applauding wildly as they watch Leo mouth 'thank you' again, as he takes his seat next to Margaret. He picks up one her fidgeting hands and kisses it, smiles at her, then puts his arm around her to pull her in close. Margaret looks over to see Lynette standing and applauding with tears trailing down her face, so happy for her friend.

Carol Brown stands up and gives her closing comments and thanks to this year's participants and sponsors, and then dismisses the audience, the conference participants, until next years FEW Conference in Reno, Nevada.

* * *

Several people head towards the dais to tell Leo how much they enjoyed his speech. He stands there and chats with everyone who waits in line to shake his hand. Margaret is at his side the whole time, fretting about what Leo did tonight. It's not that she embarrassed or ashamed about their relationship, it's that she afraid of what it will do to his career and the Administration.

Eventually the banquet hall empties, leaving Margaret and Leo alone.

"Leo, I can't believe you did that," she says.

"Margaret, it's going to be fine," he reassures her.

"But Leo, there was press here tonight," she reminds him. Normally, they don't have any members of the press interested in their events, but tonight was different. It seems wherever Leo McGarry goes that the press soon follows.

"I hope they got some good pictures," he says, giving her a loving glance.

"Well there will no doubt in their minds now after your little announcement tonight," she says in a rush.

"Gwad, I hope they spell our names right," he says pulling her into a hug.

"Leo what about your career?"

"Margaret, my career isn't as important to me as you are. I've lost so much over the years trying to get where I am, and now look what's happened. I'm alienated from my best friend in the world, the only other person, besides you that I would trust with my life."

"Leo..." she starts to complain, but is silenced by his lips on hers and she melts in his arms.

Leo slowly pulls from their shared hug and kiss, and raises a hand to her face and gently strokes her cheek, "Look... it was gonna come out sooner or later, so why worry about it," he rationalizes.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to announce it," she says. "And besides, don't you think you should have given CJ a heads up before you did it."

"No, I don't," Leo says sternly, putting his hands in pockets. "It's time that I worry about myself."

"Well, I agree with that, but don't you think..."

"Margaret, let's not worry about it. Let's go back up to our room and relax and enjoy our last night here in the hotel. We'll have plenty of time later to worry about other stuff," he says as he puts a hand to the small of her back and guides her out of the room.

"Okay, you're right," she agrees, with a smile.

* * *

Margaret wakes up early Sunday morning and discovers that Leo is missing from their bed. She gets up, slips on her robe over her bare body and goes looking for him. She finds him standing by the window, in the living area of the hotel room, starting at the Delta water fountain. "Leo," she softly says, walking up behind him.

"Hey," he replies, as he turns, and then takes her into his arms, holding her tightly against his body. He's amazed at how good she feels in his arms. "Did I wake you?" He whispers into her neck.

"No, I just woke up and found you missing, so I came looking for you cause I missed you."

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah. So, what are you doing?"

"Thinking," he sighs.

"Thinking about what?"

"The future, and wondering about what's going to happen," he softly says.

"Our future?" She hesitantly asks, looking away from him. It's still seems like it's too good to be true.

"No," he kisses her neck, and turns her attention back to him. "Our future is certain," he breathes into her neck. "Never... never doubt that."

"Good," she breathes a sigh of relief. He's already told her this, but she just wanted to be reassured.

"Iwas just thinking about Jed... and what I'm gonna do about... you know... the West Wing."

"What do you want to do?"

"I'm not sure anymore," he shakes his head a little. "I never pictured myself leaving before it was over, but now... I think it might be time to move on," he says, with a sad look on his face.

Leo's last statement shakes Margaret, because she knows how much he loves his job and how much he loves the President too. "Oh Leo, I don't know how to help you with that," she finally says. "I wish I could, but..." She cups her hand to the side of his face, trying to comfort him and just let him know that she is there for him, no matter what happens.

"I know," he sighs. "I have to decide what I want to do and what's best for the administration. Jed's not always going to be the President, but I would like to think that he'll always be my friend and me leaving might be the only way to salvage what's left of our friendship."

Margaret bites her lip. She wants to berate the President for his childlike behavior and all the hurtful things he's done to Leo lately, but she knows that it will just make Leo upset. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to this administration, and I would say that even if I didn't love you," she tells him.

Leo looks at Margaret with nothing but love in his eyes. "Thanks, I'm just not sure what I want or what I'm going to do anymore, but I think I'm running out of options."

"Well, what does your heart tell you?"

An impish grin spreads across his face as he thinks about what his heart wants and desires. "Well... there is one thing I am positive that I want," he says leaning in for a long kiss.

"Oh, and what's that?" She coos into his ear, after coming up for air.

"You," he softly laughs, pulling on the sash of her robe, until it comes undone and then slips the robe off her shoulders, allowing it to drop to the floor. He applies feathery kisses to her bare shoulders, then works his way up her neck and then to her lips where he fully explores her mouth, as he pulls her into a tight hug against his body. After they break for air, he gazes into her loving eyes, takes her by the hand and leads her back to their bed.

* * *

Sunday morning comes far too quickly as far as Leo and Margaret are concerned. When the alarm goes off, Margaret hits the snooze and turns over to face Leo.

"Leo, it's time to get up. We need to finish packing, shower, eat breakfast and then get to the airport," she tells him as she kisses him.

"Hmm..." he groans.

"It's all your fault that we didn't get much sleep last night," she reminds him and she playfully swats his shoulder.

"Hey, watch it. I'll have the Secret Service arrest you for assaulting me," he smirks.

"Right, you do that and you won't be able to do what we did last night again," she points out to him with a giggle.

"Well we can't have that now, can we," he says as he pulls her into his arms and then rolls them over until he's on top of her.

"Leo, we don't have time for this."

"Are ya sure?" He almost whines.

"Yes, I'm sure, cause last night after you fell asleep... I reset the alarm for later, so we'd get more sleep," she explains.

"I think it was more like I passed out," he laughs. "Man, what you do to me." He starts to playfully assault her with kisses as he presses himself against her hip.

"Leo..." she starts to complain, but he covers her mouth with his and slides his tongue against hers. She quickly gives up and pulls him tighter against her body and drops her hands to his backside.

A half an hour later, they are lying side by side talking in bed. "Leo, we really do need to get up now," she says sadly.

"Margaret, I'm sorry but I don't think I can again this soon," he grins.

"Leo, I didn't mean that way," she whines, and then realizes he's teasing her. "You," she says, as she gets up and heads for the bathroom.

"Hey, I know a way we can save time and conserve water," he calls after her, as he quickly gets up and follows her.

"Okay, but no funny business," she reminds him, as he steps into the shower with her.

"Margaret, what'd did I just tell ya? I couldn't even if I wanted to, but then again," he smirks.

"Leo."

"I'm just kidding." He laughs as he grabs a hold of the shampoo and starts to wash his hair.

"Okay, I never know when to take you serious anymore."

"Good, cause I hate being predictable."

"Oh Leo, no one can accuse you of that anymore," she laughs.

They finish in the shower, get dressed without too much horseplay from Leo. Margaret is so glad that Leo is relaxing and having a good time. He's starting to act like she always thought he might act outside of work. They sit down and have breakfast, one last time on their balcony. This has been one of their favorite places in the hotel suite.

"I'm going to miss this," Margaret softly says.

"Yeah, but you know that just cause we leave here doesn't mean that things have to change," Leo informs her.

"What do you mean?"

"Margaret, I've been doing a lot of thinking since well... actually since before I got here, but I want you and me to move in together."

"Leo, I'm not going to live in some hotel," she quickly points out to him. "Although if it's here, I just might consider it," she smiles.

"No not my hotel, I've been looking around for a place to move into," he tells her, waiting for it to sink in.

"Well, it's about time you moved out of that damn hotel. Mallory and I have been trying to get you to do that for years."

"Well... you've finally succeeded. I want you to go looking with me. We probably won't even have to wait for the weekend with my new uncluttered schedule," he says, with just a hint of a frown.

"You want me to help?"

"Yeah, well, since you are going to live there too, aren't ya?" He asks, with hope in his eyes.

"I'm considering it. You're going to be needing me after the surgery, so I might as well start living with you now."

"Margaret, that's not why I want you to live with me. I want you there... cause I love you and need you and someday... well I want us to... umm..."

"I want that too," she shyly tells him, as she leans over and kisses his slightly red tinged cheek. She turns towards the table and notices Leo's ring is still where he left it three days ago.

Leo's eyes travel to what Margaret is staring at. They never talked about his ring. He knew she was aware that it was gone from his hand, but she never mentioned it. He watches her face as she smiles and then looks back at him. "Leo, we need to get going. The luggage is already downstairs, and I imagine the car that you arranged for us last night, is waiting also."

"Yeah," he says, as he stands.

They head for the door, stop and take one last look around their room and then Leo opens the door for Margaret. Leo hesitates in the doorway, for just a second. He's not sure he's ready to go back and face the goings on of the current White House. He sighs, not wanting to end their private time together, away from the prying eyes of the world.

"Leo, did you forget something?"

"No," Leo glances towards the balcony, remembering his ring on the table. "Nope, I have everything I need," he reminds her, as he kisses her cheek in reassurance. "I'm just a little unsure about going back to the West Wing."

"Well, we don't have to go back today. You could come to my apartment when we get back. We could search the Internet for a place for you, or we might even come up with something else to occupy our time," she suggests.

"I just bet you could," he says, shutting the door to their hotel room and to his past. He joins her in the hallway and puts a loving hand to the small of her back, guiding her towards their future.

The End.

* * *

This is the original ending of this story. But since I got a lot of feedback asking about the resolution between Leo and Jed and some other things, I am thinking about writing a sequel to this story. That is, if you want me too?

Bev

* * *


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